About Reilly Mile High

The last two games for the Denver Broncos have been crushing. Not the kind of losses that make you think your team isn’t good enough or talented enough but the kind that make you wonder if they can ever win a game in which they have a chance. These were not blowouts or the type of losses that most coaches can explain away with statistics and a scout team. These were games in which the Broncos held a lead late and had a chance to win, but both times, it was against the Chargers and both times the game was lost on the final play of the game. In Week 2 against the Colts, they were beaten on a long field goal and in Week 3 it was on a 43-yard field goal. It was the same story with the same unsatisfying result, and now the Broncos are sitting at 1-2, instead of 3-0 and in the AFC West, you are never going to catch back up. In Week 2 against the Colts, it seemed like the Broncos were really starting to find their identity, especially on offense. Bo Nix showed poise in the pocket and a knack for finding open receivers, finishing with three touchdowns on just 11 completions in 18 attempts, while the run game with J.K. Dobbins was efficient in moving the chains and controlling the clock. This gave Denver time for their defense, which wasn’t as good as the offense in this game, to make key stops and give their team a chance to leave with a win on the road. It seemed like the Broncos would pull away in the second half, but they let a late-game lead slip away thanks to a key, but very questionable and damaging, “leverage” penalty on a field goal attempt to keep the Colts’ last drive alive. The Broncos couldn’t cover for it, and instead of a walk-off win, Spencer Shrader booted a 45-yard field goal as time expired to turn a 28–20 victory into a 29–28 loss.

The Week 3 result was exactly the same except with the Chargers instead of the Colts, except for the score (29–28 in both games) and instead of a field goal, it was a defensive touchdown that sealed the Broncos’ fate, along with a few other key plays. Denver jumped out to a late 20–13 lead, and again looked like they were about to right the ship after a weird Week 2 loss. Again, the Broncos offense couldn’t get the job done when it was time to close the game out and this time the offense killed themselves with a critical three-and-out late in the game when just one first down would have ended the game and cemented the Broncos’ defense to not have to make another stop. This mistake gave the Chargers the ball back with life and allowed Los Angeles’ offense to regain some momentum, which they used to score a game-tying touchdown with under two minutes to go. The Chargers, already gifted life by Denver’s offense, were given another gift by the Broncos’ defense, as the Denver defense was so gassed from having to play so long that they couldn’t make a play when the Chargers needed them to and allowed Los Angeles to go for the win and kicker Cameron Dicker drilled the game-winning 43-yard field goal.

The two one-score losses in a row are not just hard because of the results, but because both losses combined to show some worrisome trends. Denver now sits at 2–8 in one-score games over the last 20 regular-season games, a telling stat on how unprepared this team is to win when they have a chance. In both games, the Broncos combined to only score three points in the fourth quarter while the Colts and Chargers had two game-tying scoring drives each. They couldn’t move the ball on third down, got hit with big penalties at key moments, and it was like the play-calling and aggressiveness evaporated as the game reached a boil. On the sidelines, the Broncos’ coaching decisions on clock management and aggressiveness in the red zone and in the game’s final minutes seemed more reactive than in-command. It’s not that the Broncos don’t have a good chance to win games like that; it’s more that the Broncos aren’t playing, coaching, or executing at a level to win those close games right now.