Editor’s note: With the Broncos and Bears splitting their respective offense and defense between two the fields at the UC Health Training center, we split up to have one pair of eyes on each field at all times. In this piece, we focused on the Broncos’ defense.

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Following the Denver Broncos and Chicago Bears’ first joint practice on Wednesday, Broncos’ head coach Vance Joseph gave a very straightforward analysis on how he felt his defense performed.

“Our one defense was really sharp. Our two defense was terrible,” Joseph said bluntly.

Bouncing back and forth between the two fields—one hosting the Broncos’ defense and the other their offense—Joseph wasn’t able to witness every rep on each field live, but his assessment of the defense’s performance was rather accurate.

Except in one major area.

WIDE OPEN SPACES

When giving a quick preview of the Bears’ on Tuesday, Joseph broke down Chicago’s offense as having “great weapons” for quarterback Mitchell Trubisky.

“They have two great backs, they have great receivers, so it’s going to be fun to watch,” he added.

In his brief overview of the Bears’ offense, Joseph forgot to mention their tight ends.

In Wednesday’s practice, the Broncos’ defense also forgot about the Bears’ tight ends.

In what felt like déjà vu from years past, Denver’s defense struggled mightily covering the Bears’ talented tight end corps. This included the first-team unit that Joseph deemed as being “really sharp” on the day. Tight ends were the major exception to Joseph’s evaluation.

After the first team period, in which the Bears didn’t throw a single pass, Trubisky connected with his tight ends early and often.

The first completion of the day for the Bears’ first-team unit was during 7-on-7s with a quick pass in the middle to a tight end. Todd Davis was there in coverage, but the pass still did its job.

Six of the next seven completed passes were all to tight ends, including three passes over 20 yards down the field. The first of those was to a wide-open Trey Burton who could have skipped the final 20 yards into the end zone.

Trubisky’s connection with tight ends was so emphatic, it was almost like the quarterback didn’t even see receiving options that weren’t tight ends, or he was told to exclusively throw to tight ends.

Later, during back-to-back goal line 7-on-7 periods, Trubisky targeted his tight ends in four of his six attempts, connecting with all four of them including two touchdowns.

One of the touchdowns was a slant to 2017 second-round pick Adam Shaheen and the second was a fade in the back right corner of the end zone to Burton.

During the final situational period (more below), Trubisky moved the bears into Broncos territory in large part to two completions to tight ends, one to Burton in the middle of the field and the other on the left sideline to Shaheen.

During that same period, Bradley Roby was in zone coverage on a route where Trubisky tried to connect with Shaheen on the right sideline. Instead of a completion, Roby made an incredible dive, breaking up the pass right in front of the massive receiving tight end.

Outside of that excellent play, however, nearly the only time Trubisky’s passes to tight ends weren’t completed was either due to a bad pass or a drop.

If this sounds familiar on multiple levels, it’s because it should.

Over the past few years, although Denver has had one of the best defenses in the league, they’ve struggled mightily covering tight ends. On top of that, last year, when Burton was on the Eagles, he found success hauling in two passes for 41 yards and a touchdown against Denver’s defense.

Similar issues with tight ends haunted the second and third-string units as well on Wednesday with wide open holes appearing in the middle of the field often for the second-team unit.

After practice, specifically talking about the second-team unit, Joseph pointed to “too many mistakes, too many busted coverages.”

“That’s the main issue with our second-team defense is we’re beat up,” Joseph said on Wednesday. “That being said, we’ve got a game on Saturday, and those guys have to do their jobs. We’ll figure it out by Saturday and kind of get some calls on the call sheet that they can handle. We kind of ran some things today that’s new to all of us, to a guy that’s been here two days, that’s going to be tough on him.”

In terms of the first-team unit, they were without Chris Harris Jr. and Su’a Cravens in their secondary.

While Harris typically doesn’t have anything to do with tight ends, his absence could have changed defensive coordinator Joe Woods’ scheme. Cravens, on the other hand, was thought to be a perfect counter to tight ends. However, he’s been sidelined for over half of camp with a sore knee.

Specifically asked about the struggles covering tight ends, Joseph said he’ll have to review the tape.

NO OPEN SPACES

On the other side of things, the Broncos’ first-team run defense was back to its 2017 form. This time, in a good way.

After the Bears picked up six yards on their first carry of the day, it was all uphill running for their backs after that.

When the Bears’ backs attempted to run up the middle, the Broncos’ defensive line quickly closed any possible holes almost immediately. When they tried to go outside, they were quickly met with a containing Von Miller or Bradley Chubb.

After their first series, in which they exclusively ran the ball, the team barely turned to the ground game the rest of practice, instead looking to their tight ends in the air.

Denver’s success against the run was in large part to three men up front.

THE BIG THREE

Following the Bears’ first six-yard run up the middle toward Domata Peko, the Broncos’ front seven buckled down. Their next run was met with a wall of defenders. The next was a Wolfe special.

As the running play began to develop, Derek Wolfe absolutely blew up the right guard, pushing him three yards into the backfield, greeting the running back with what would have been a tackle for a loss.

On the very next play, Chubb read a quarterback option perfectly, forcing Trubisky to hand the ball off. Once the handoff was complete, Chubb crashed down on the back, making the tackle at the line of scrimmage.

Throughout the rest of practice, Wolfe was key in the defensive line collapsing on inside runs and not letting any holes develop on the offensive line.

Chubb picked up where he left off in the first team period in run defense. Over the course of practice, the No. 5 overall pick had two powerful run stops where he overpowered the tackle to get to the running back and make the tackle.

In the passing game, the talented rookie was nearly as impressive as he had two pressures on Trubisky.

But the real menace to Trubisky when he dropped back was No. 58, Von Miller.

After practice, Miller admitted he was trying to “wreck” the Bears practice by destroying their offensive line. On multiple occasions, Miller did just that.

As Trubisky dropped back to pass, Von used an inside move to be in the backfield in a hurry. In a game, Miller could have very well got a sack, but since quarterbacks are off limits, Trubisky found a wide-open Burton in the middle of the field.

Von’s best play of the day earned play-of-the-day honors (read below).

Wolfe also shined in pass rush as he applied interior pressure. On one play specifically, Wolfe got in Trubisky’s face forcing him to dump the ball off prematurely.

The only blemish on the day from the big three was an offsides penalty big Wolfe.

TWO-MINUTE DRILL

The Broncos and Bears ended practice with a two-minute situational period in which the Bears were down 23-21 with 1:20 left in the game and the ball in their own territory.

The first play started with a gorgeous sack from Von Miller. After that, however, the Bears found their groove, moving into Denver territory in five plays to set up a game-winning 55-yard field goal that went right through the middle of the uprights.

“We’ve got to clean up our two-minute defense a little bit,” Wolfe said after the Bears got the best of them in the final period. “We could use some improvement there.”

After practice, Joseph emphasized how important it is for his team to win in those situations against the Bears in the joint practices.

“Winning is winning, especially with a two-minute [drill] like that,” he said. “That’s being smart. That’s being the right calls by the coaches and the players getting a situation there. It’s always important to win.”

Miller’s sack and Roby’s pass breakup were the two highlights on the drive for the defense, but they were negated by a Burton catch in the middle of the field, an efficient no-huddle offense and an offside penalty on Wolfe.

INJURY AND AVAILABILITY NOTES

• Courtland Sutton left practice with a knee injury, but did return. After practice, Joseph said Sutton is “fine.”
• Chris Harris Jr. strained his oblique muscle during Tuesday’s practice and “just couldn’t go today. Hopefully, he can go Saturday,” according to the head coach.
• Shaq Barrett has a “minor” hamstring injury. “He should be back fairly quick,” Joseph said. “Hopefully he plays Saturday.”
• Su’a Cravens missed Wednesday’s practice with a lingering sore knee. Joseph hopes Cravens is back at practice this week and hopes he can play against his former team, Washington, in the third preseason game.
• Joseph expects Ron Leary to play in the second preseason game.
• Sam Jones back spasms that he sustained on Tuesday were worse than initially believed, but he should be back in two to three days.
• Others that did not practice included: Troy Fumagalli, Dymonte Thomas, Sam Jones, Michael Hunter and J.J. Dielman.

ADDITIONAL TIDBITS

• Tramaine Brock filled in for Harris Jr. as the team’s second cornerback. He was targeted multiple times on the day, but only gave up short completions in the flat.
• While the Bears’ tight ends ate up Denver’s defense, their backs had a fine day in the passing game, too. Due to the backs and tight ends having nice days in the air, the Bears’ receivers were relatively quiet.
• With Cravens and Harris Jr. out for practice, Woods used more base defense than he’s shown in the first two and a half weeks of training camp. Instead of Will Parks being on the field nearly every play in dime or nickel packages, Todd Davis and Brandon Marshall were lined up to each other often.
• Carlos Henderson was suspended one game for violating the NFL’s Policy and Program for Substances of Abuse on Wednesday. Henderson has not reported to the team’s training camp and remains on the Reserve/Did Not Report list.
• The case involving Adam Gotsis was dropped on Wednesday. Gotsis was arrested in March for allegedly raping a woman in 2013 in Georgia. The Fulton County District Attorney Paul L. Howard released a statement, which included, “The evidence presented does not warrant any further action in this case.”
  • Gotsis has been with the team during the entire offseason and training camp. He is listed as the No. 1 defensive end opposite Wolfe and will play a key role in Denver’s defense.

PLAY OF THE DAY

Von Miller couldn’t have drawn it up better.

His defense was up 23-21 with 1:20 left in the “game” and the Bears had the ball in their own territory.

On the very first play, Miller could have very well ended it. As the ball was moving with the snap, Miller was moving. In fact, he read the snap so well, he was immediately behind the Bears’ right tackle before he took a single step.

Before Trubisky had even completed his drop back, the whistles were being blown for a Von Miller sack.

In a real game, a sack was the best outcome the Bears could have hoped for with Miller breathing down Trubisky’s neck just a second after the snap.