The Denver Broncos dropped to 3-10 on Sunday following their 34-28 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Sunday was arguably the team’s best performance of the season, though, even in a loss.
After falling behind 27-0 early, Denver fought back and made it a tight game. Quarterback Russell Wilson played his best game as a Bronco and the offense — for the first time this year — gave fans reason to be truly excited.
Denver’s comeback effort fell short, but it was a moral victory. Moral victories won’t save Nathaniel Hackett’s job, though (presumably).
“The goal is to win,” Hackett said. “We all know that. But to watch these guys when you’re down 27-0 — everybody had a choice on how they wanted to continue that game. I’m so impressed with all those guys — defense, offense, special teams. They didn’t blink, they stayed together. … We had opportunities to continually win that game. I appreciate that, and that is kind of that moral victory, but we want to win the game. We had a chance to. But the fight that these guys have is awesome.”
Broncos safety Justin Simmons didn’t accept the moral victory angle.
“We’re 3-10. We lost,” Simmons said. “Yes, you can take positives away, but at the end of the day, we lost. There’s a competitive nature in everyone here. Obviously, it was great that we fought back, it was great that there were takeaways, it was great that we were scoring off the takeaways, but it’d be a different story if we were 10-3 and this happened but we’re not.
“It’s been like this for a while now since I’ve been here, and it just sucks. At the end of the day, I just hate losing.”
That’s a fair point from Simmons, and fans certainly want to see wins as well, but it was nice to see the Broncos show some fight on Sunday, and it was great to see the offense show signs of life. If that team shows up consistently, fans will have reason for optimism going into 2023.
So while the coaches and players shouldn’t be happy with a moral win, it at least gave the fans something to get excited about, and that’s been lacking this year. If Sunday’s moral wins leads to better days — and actual wins — down the road, it was absolutely a step in the right direction.
Follow the Broncos Wire Podcast:
Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Google Podcasts
