Jerry Jeudy had a day to forget ... but how it is remembered will determine his future

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — The Broncos’ last gasp at SoFi Stadium here Sunday afternoon was a “Hail Mary” intercepted by a Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver.

But in reality, the Broncos’ best hopes for a second consecutive season-series sweep of the Chargers died when a deep Drew Lock pass skipped off the hands of wide receiver Jerry Jeudy.

It was the only way that this day could have turned out.

The final score — Chargers 19, Broncos 16 — will be forgotten, as is often the case for games played between teams playing out the final weeks of wrecked seasons. So will many of the details, even though they played their part in determining the game’s outcome: a costly Lock interception in the red zone, a Broncos defense that stood up strong in the red zone for most of the afternoon, Shelby Harris batting down two passes at the line of scrimmage, both teams playing without many of the stars in their constellations.

But what will be remembered is that it was the worst day of Jeudy’s football life. And the years to come will determine its impact.

Before that final drop, Jeudy had already dropped four of 10 catchable passes — a dismal rate of one drop every 2.5 chances. The deep shot would represent the 15th pass thrown in Jeudy’s direction.

It was an opportunity that Lock foretold earlier in the game, when he approached a despondent Jeudy on the bench after one of his drops. By then, Jeudy had already thrown his helmet to the ground in frustration. He needed the support of his quarterback.

“I told him that you’re one of the most talented guys I’ve ever been around and you’re one of the most talented guys in this league. You’re going to play for a really long time and you’re going to have days like this because of how good you are and how many chances you’re going to get to go out and catch the ball, you have to let it go,” Lock said.

“You have to go out there because, you never know when there’s 30 seconds left, and you might be able to have the ball in your hands to win the game and then all those drops are forgotten about.”

So with that in mind, Jeudy had one last shot to transform the narrative.

At the snap, the Chargers dropped eight defenders at least nine yards back of the line of scrimmage. Jeudy got a free release and didn’t face a defender until he was 15 yards into his route. He ran a deep post route and had space with two defenders in the area. Drew Lock delivered a pass that covered 50 air yards and was on-target.

With 30 seconds left — just like Lock said — the ball arrived in Jeudy’s hands.

Catch it, and the Broncos are in range of a game-tying Brandon McManus field goal to force overtime. Catch it, and the four drops that preceded it are forgotten.

It bounced to the ground and fell incomplete.

A dejected Jeudy lingered on the field for a moment, kneeling and leaning on his hands. His head bowed. He rose and walked back to the sideline with a hobble.

Thirty seconds of game time later, the Broncos’ hopes officially when Mike Williams — the receiver playing defense — intercepted Lock’s “Hail Mary” pass. But the best chance they had was Lock’s on-target deep ball to Jeudy.

Like the other four drops, the first-round rookie said he “looked it in.”

“I was looking in slow motion,” he said. “I just couldn’t bring it in.”

“I’ve just got to make plays,” Jeudy added a moment later. “Nobody stopped me. I was open. I’ve just got to finish. I beat myself today.”

And with that, the Broncos were beaten, doomed to their third double-digit-loss season in the last four years. That matches the number of seasons with double-digit losses that they had in the previous 49 campaigns.

“He’s got to come back from it — [it] could be a defining moment in his career,” Fangio said. “He’s got to come back, have a great week of practice, catch a bunch of balls, and then show up on Sunday when the balls are thrown to him, he’ll catch it.”

It certainly could be a defining moment.

Now Jeudy has must ensure that he defines the moment — and doesn’t have it define him, in the words of Roy “Tin Cup” McAvoy.

As always, an answer lies in someone else’s experience.

Thirty-seven years and nine months ago, a basketball team’s coaching staff and a few members of its athletic department gathered for a postgame dinner in an Atlanta restaurant.

Their team had just been flogged in the first round of its conference tournament, losing 109-66 to a team featuring a three-time national player of the year. The program, a national power three years removed from a No. 1 ranking and five years removed from playing for a national title, seemed to many observers to be in free-fall, although a cluster of promising freshmen offered hope of better days.

At that late-night meal, the school’s sports-information director raised his glass in a toast.

“Here’s to forgetting tonight,” he said.

The young head coach, with fire in his voice, snapped.

“No,” that coach said. “Here’s to NEVER forgetting tonight.”

That head coach was Mike Krzyzewski, the team was the Duke Blue Devils, and from the ashes of the night he vowed to always remember, he built the most dominant college-basketball program of the last 40 years — and one that won its next 16 games against Virginia, the team that drubbed them in such humiliating fashion on that Friday night at The Omni.

So what will Sunday be for Jeudy?

Will it be the performance that is a harbinger of woes to come?

Or will it be the day that forever powers him to greatness, just like it was for Krzyzewski?

The answer is up to No. 10.

Cliche’ says that you should forget about moments like Sunday. That if you remember them, they will echo and gnaw at your confidence.

But experience like the one Jeudy had Sunday can be the most powerful motivator.

You line up to take that extra rep in practice, you spend another 20 minutes on the JUGS machine, you study film of an opposing cornerback just a little bit longer, you run a few more routes in your front yard in the quiet of the offseason because of five drops that cost you a win and spawned a cottage industry of media and fan doubters.

Forget those drops?

Hell, no.

Here’s to Jerry Jeudy never forgetting those drops and the anguish he felt.

Here’s to the the day being the spark that ignites his career.

Here’s to Jeudy defining the moment, and not letting it define him.