After seventh consecutive loss, 'something's gotta give' for frustrated, spiraling Broncos

GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Broncos’ woes are bigger than one soggy day in which they handed the Packers a rain-soaked silver platter carrying three turnovers.

A win next week against the Jacksonville Jaguars won’t change the outlook. After all, the Jaguars are 1-2 and carry the anvil of the NFL’s second-worst winning percentage this decade.

The woes are bigger than one three-week stretch to open Vic Fangio’s head-coaching career. Plenty of first-time coaches have started 0-3 or worse and still marshaled successful long-term turnarounds.

The woes are bigger, even, than the seven-game losing streak that is the longest current skid in the NFL.

“Times are rough around here, obviously. The past three years, it’s been tough,” said wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders, who was targeted just four times, finishing with two catches for 10 yards.

“Right now it’s 0-3,” Sanders said. “We’re living in a world of suck.”

Aside from the vacuum-cleaner industry, you don’t make many marketing campaigns based around the phrase “a world of suck.”

“Something’s gotta give,” safety Will Parks said in the locker room as the Broncos picked themselves up following the 27-16 loss to the Packers at Lambeau Field on Sunday.

Parks, like others who’ve been around for a few years, understands the big picture. He first walked into the Broncos locker room in 2016, when the afterglow of the Super Bowl 50 win remained resplendent. He experienced just enough of that to understand how the team’s intimidating defense could have some games decided before the opening kickoff.

In those days, opponents often game-planned off of fear — fear of the pass rush, fear of two Pro Bowl cornerbacks, fear that even the smallest miscue could lead to a game-turning pick-6 or fumble return.

There is no fear now.

The Broncos haven’t forced a takeaway or sacked a quarterback all season. Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was hit just once. After the game, he said he felt “amazing.”

He eluded some rushes, but for the most part, the 15-year veteran had enough time to not only grill a bratwurst, but soak it in beer beforehand.

“I have to say this is one of the cleanest games my jersey has ever looked,” Rodgers said.

Reminder: It rained nearly all day, and Lambeau Field has never had artificial turf.

“I took basically one shot,” Rodgers continued. “I hit the ground one time, so I’m ecstatic … I’m probably going to go have a little scotch and look at some Philly tape.”

Pour that shot of single malt on the fire of unusual and negative outcomes and anecdotes that threatens to consume Denver’s season before the leaves start falling in earnest.

At one point during Fangio’s press conference, he was asked about the fact that the Broncos completed yet another game without a sack or a takeaway, putting them into territory that no team has reached since sacks became an official NFL statistic in 1982.

“Have you got the solution?” Fangio asked.

The first step is knowing the problem. Fangio understands it well.

“That’s three games in a row. That’s no good, obviously,” Fangio said. “It is the circumstances of the game, to a degree.”

While the lack of takeaways and sacks persist, other issues change from week to week — a poor first half against Oakland, a spate of holding penalties against Chicago, three turnovers in Green Bay — two of which set up the Packers inside the Denver 40-yard line.

Green Bay capitalized on the short field for two touchdowns. Meanwhile, the Broncos went three-and-out after starting their first drive at the Green Bay 43-yard line thanks to a 60-yard Diontae Spencer kickoff return.

“This game, in some ways, was very similar to our first two,” Fangio said. “And until we can stop people more decisively and score more points, teams are going to be content to play these types of games with us.”

And those types of games are the ones the Broncos keep losing. The details are different. The results remain the same.

“The losing has been going on for the last three or four years around here,” Parks said. “At some point in time, people have to understand that that can’t happen.”

Fangio, Joe Flacco and the other newcomers to the Denver Broncos didn’t start the fire of failure. It had been burning since a three-game losing streak napalmed the Broncos’ hopes of successfully defending their 2015 world championship.

To steal a 30-year-old lyric from Billy Joel, they didn’t light it. But they’re trying to fight it. And right now, they don’t appear to have enough hoses or hydrants.