Vic Fangio gives his take on Von Miller’s dreary post-game comments

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Sunday wasn’t kind to the Denver Broncos.

The Broncos were dumped on by the weather, the Chiefs and, finally, their very own Von Miller.

“Tough loss. It’s hard. I don’t really even know what to say,” Miller said after Denver was smacked down by the Chiefs 23-3 in Kansas City. “I don’t know how we got to this point. I don’t know why it went like this. I don’t know what to say. It’s tough.”

Minutes after Denver’s hopes of a postseason run were officially put to bed, Von Miller questioned everything — from what the team has and hasn’t done in recent years to pondering if and when the team will get out of the rut in which they find themselves.

“It’s tough being where we’re at,” Miller said with an empty expression on his face. “It’s tough being 30 years old and going out there with whatever issues I’m dealing with and coming up so short … It’s tough dealing with these last couple of ones, especially with the type of standard that we have whenever we came into the league. We went into the playoffs five years straight. I know I’m getting ahead of myself and I’m talking about more than just the game, but it’s just tough. I’m really lost for words … It’s just been slipping away from us for way too long.”

Confusion and questions and were rampant moments after the Super Bowl 50 MVP stepped off the podium after painting the very dark picture following the very dark loss. But on Monday, after having time to digest a “little bit” of Von’s dreary comments, Vic Fangio wasn’t lost for words and had a simple explanation.

“I just think the frustration of losing to those guys again. He’s been here the last four years now to where it hasn’t been a winning season,” Fangio stated, brushing off Miller’s six-minute interview as mere frustration. “He’s been a positive influence and a positive part of this team. That will continue. I just think it’s more frustration.”

Despite Miller’s headline-catching comments just being chalked up to a little frustration, Fangio will talk to the defensive star this week. The head coach doesn’t believe he and Von aren’t on the same page, yet he believes the Broncos are heading in the right direction.

“I mean it’s hard to claim that with the way the season has gone, but I do believe that,” Fangio stated as his team sits with a 5-9 record on the year.

On Monday, Fangio offered one more simple explanation for the Broncos’ struggles, specifically against the Chiefs, which led to Von’s critique and frustration.

“We just got beat by a better team,” Fangio stated. “You got to give the credit to the Chiefs, they played very good. Their offense, we had a hard time slowing them down and we had a hard time moving the ball against their defense. I think the biggest reason is the Chiefs. They’ve won a lot of games in the last few years and they showed why.”

Denver hasn’t beat Kansas City since the Peyton Manning era, enduring nine-straight losses to their division rival since 2015. In 2019, the Chiefs crushed Denver beating them by a combined score of 53-9 in two matchups.

A main reason why Kansas City’s had this tremendous success over Denver is they’ve had by far and away the better quarterback play over this time period. Even before the Patrick Mahomes era, Andy Reid had Alex Smith playing at an MVP-caliber level in 2017.

Now the Broncos will have to go up against the MVP Mahomes for at least the next decade. Yet that’s the one area Von is most encouraged about his team.

“Drew’s definitely the future,” Miller said about Drew Lock, deeming he and Courtland Sutton “stars.” “Drew is doing what he needs to do … We found a quarterback. We’ve got a great quarterback, but everybody else has to come along.”

Fangio believed Miller’s critical comment about the rest of the team was a “broad” statement.

“I mean, everybody’s always looking to improve,” Fangio said on Monday, responding to No. 58’s comments. “So yeah, we’re always looking to improve. You need more than a quarterback, to put it that way.”

On Sunday, the Chiefs, followed by Von Miller, forcefully brought the Broncos back to earth, with Von’s comments resonating just as loud as the game itself.

But on Monday, Fangio wasn’t phased by the very dark picture one of his own players had metaphorically painted.