The Denver Broncos continue to plummet toward the bottom of the NFL, falling to 0-3 as the team still looks to give Vic Fangio his first win as a head coach.
The Broncos outplayed the Green Bay Packers for much of the game on Sunday but too many self-inflicted wounds, i.e. turnovers, led to a 27-16 defeat.
Denver will have to find a way to pick themselves up and dust themselves off before facing the Jacksonville Jaguars next week, but first, some takeaways from this one.
1. The defense just isn’t that good
Fangio was going to come over to Denver and create the league’s best defense. He’s done it before, namely last season with the Chicago Bears, so giving him weapons such as Von Miller and Bradley Chubb would lead to the same thing in the Mile High City.
That hasn’t been the case.
But not only have the Broncos not recorded a single sack in three games, they have also yet to force a turnover. The secondary is suspect and the lack of a game-changing inside linebacker, a problem that has been talked about for quite some time, is still a glaring hole.
This isn’t a defense teams are going to be scared to go against and that will be the case for the rest of this season, at least.
2. Phillip Lindsay was the lone bright spot
Lindsay worked for every yard he gained on Sunday and scored both of Denver’s touchdowns in this game. His second, a 1-yard run in the third quarter, required a serious second and even third effort to cross the goal line.
His play is infectious, it’s just too bad the team doesn’t have 52 more of him.
3. This was the most winnable game of the season so far
Despite playing in a place where they have never won and going against a team that was undefeated, the Broncos could have and probably should have won this game.
The team was able to sustain drives and dominate time of possession, keeping Aaron Rodgers off the field.
Turnovers changed the game as the Broncos coughed the ball up on their end of the field, giving the Packers the ball on their 5-yard line after one fumble. That proved to be too much to overcome.
4. The Broncos will have a pick in the top 5 of the next draft
Broncos fans are not going to want to admit this and optimists are going to point to the fact that it has “only been three games,” but let’s try to be honest with ourselves.
This is not a good football team. This team is not turning it around this season and won’t cash in on what is probably a three percent chance of making the postseason after an 0-3 start.
Simply put, this is one of the five worst teams in the league and the Broncos will have a pick reflective of that in the 2020 draft. That pick will be in the top five.
If you really want to be optimistic and a realist at the same time, look at how loaded the next draft class is.
