As it stands right now, the Denver Broncos are 0-3 and they have lost a road game to a division rival, a home game to one of the best defenses in the NFL, and a road game to Aaron Rodgers and a Superbowl contender Green Bay Packers team.
Fans are overreacting, which is typical for Broncos Country, but fans are calling to fire Elway, trade all veterans for draft capital, start the full rebuild, fire Vic Fangio, get rid of Rich Scangarello, and Drew Lock needs to start immediately. Overreaction is normal when your team hasn’t been 0-3 in over 20 years and your once-dominant defense is making history without a sack or turnover in three weeks of play.
Many Broncos have been adamant, however, that this team is built to win now, and they are experiencing growing pains, but that 0-3 looks worse than it actually is.
Quarterback Joe Flacco mentioned in a post-practice interview that looking at the tape, watching game film, and being in practice, this Broncos team is working as hard as any other team in the league. He mentioned that a few plays a game is what’s costing the games, and they are still growing and developing as a team. New coaching, new systems, new players, injuries, and new culture all come with a cost, and this team is experiencing it with a slow start.
Week one was points left on the field, week two was a fluke penalty and a miracle one second left on the clock, and week three was two unfortunate fumbles. Only a handful of plays are the difference between 3-0 and 0-3.
Bradley Chubb tweeted “keep that same energy when this turn around for us.. all of yall”, letting the fans know that they feel the negativity and disappointment right now, but that the team believes they are going to turn the corner.
This Broncos team hasn’t played terribly, they have lost on individual mistakes and lost close games to good teams. They have moved the ball on offense, made important stops on defense, and special teams has played better than we could have expected based on preseason play.
The first step toward turning the season around is to come out and beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, in Denver, on Sunday. The Jaguars are in the middle of a personal dispute with their best player Jalen Ramsey, and he’s stepped away from the team each of the last three days for personal illness and to be with his family during the birth of his second child. Reports say that he joins the team for the week four match-up in Denver, weakening a strong defense, and giving the Broncos an opportunity to get into the Wins column.
Nick Foles was injured week one and Gardener Minshew has stepped in and proven to be a talented backup, but at the end of the day he’s still a rookie, and playing a great defense, at altitude, against a team desperate for a victory, isn’t going to be an easy feat. I believe the Broncos defense is going to show up, and the offense is going to put together a good showing with minimal mistakes. The Broncos will walk out of week four 1-3 if they want the chance to prove they are a good team.
The Broncos schedule is one of the hardest in the league this season, and based on last seasons records, the Broncos “easy games” this season have shown to be anything but. It was seemingly easy to count a win against the Bills, Jaguars, Raiders, Lions, and the Andrew Luck-less Colts, but each of those teams has proven they aren’t the basement dwellers they were last season.
In order to prove they are a decent team this season, the Broncos are going to need to string together some hard fought wins, against good teams, and beat some division rivals in a division headed by the seemingly invincible Kansas City Chiefs.
Four weeks is enough to iron out some growing pains, and the Broncos need to show up this weekend to start moving the needle in the right direction. Only one team that started 0-4 has made the playoffs (1992 San Diego Chargers), and I heavily doubt their schedule was as difficult as the Broncos is this season.
