And just like that, everything changed.

It was just one week ago that Broncos Country was full of hope. Ready to see a young quarterback blossom, ready to see a new offense break out, ready for the second year of Vic Fangio’s defense, ready to see their team start their path back to relevancy with a sprint.

But before you could utter the phrase “the Broncos are back” the team was ravaged by a ruthless injury bug destroying everything in its path, like pine beetle in the Colorado mountains.

Drew Lock, Von Miller, Courtland Sutton, Phillip Lindsay, A.J. Bouye and Dre’mont Jones — all set to miss significant time, with Miller and Sutton officially lost for the season. If you’re counting at home, that’s four of the six pro-bowlers on the roster to go along with the team’s starting and hopeful franchise quarterback.

No team in the league could survive this onslaught and reasonably expect to be a playoff team. Truly, run this exercise, take out 66% of a team’s pro bowlers for a significant chunk of time, including losing their best offensive and best defensive players for the year, and then take out their quarterback for a quarter of the season. Let me know what you come back with.

The goal of 2020 has changed drastically in the span of two weeks. What was once about the playoffs now has become about the future. It’s time for a new plan.

Step one: Protect your assets.

I’m looking at Bradley Chubb here. Let’s be honest, he looks like a shell of his rookie self out there, and he’s already admitted he’s not at 100 percent. It’s simply not worth the re-injury risk that exists every time he’s on the field to get a 75 percent Bradley Chubb. The Broncos should sit Chubb down until he is fully healthy. As the former No. 5 overall pick, he’s too big of an investment to take risks like this with the outlook for the season already so bleak.

The same is true of the shorter-term injury guys on this list. Lindsay, Bouye, Lock, Jones, don’t rush these guys back only to get a percentage of what they are capable of, especially if it exposes them to any sort of regression in their recovery.

Step two: Evaluate.

Look, despite the fact that the Broncos have been in purgatory for four years, the rebuild doesn’t begin until you have a quarterback, so if you’re of the belief the Drew Lock is the guy, as I am, then this is year one of the path to a championship.

The rest of this year should be about who you envision being there with you at the end of this path. Part of that is getting an eight-or-so-game evaluation of Drew Lock to make sure you’re confident in him being the guy going forward. Part of it is hopefully getting a look at a healthy Bradley Chubb for part of the season to make sure you want to pick up his fifth-year option.

But that’s the easy part. There’s a harder part of this step that includes some hard questions.

You have to ask yourself if Justin Simmons is a part of the vision. I sure think so, and I know most fans agree, but the Broncos certainly didn’t say so with their wallet this offseason. If he isn’t, there are surely going to be a few teams at the trade deadline who may be willing to give up something to get a second-team All-Pro safety for their playoff run.

You have to ask yourself if you’re prepared to pay Phillip Lindsay the money he deserves when that time comes. He’s certainly proven himself to be worth a whole heck of a lot more than the bargain you’ve got him for now, but if he’s not a back you can envision hoisting a Lombardi Trophy, there’s certainly a team or two out there that might disagree with you.

You have to ask yourself if Von Miller is a part of the vision. Despite the fact that you won’t see him on the field this year, you do have to wonder internally how much Von Miller is really going to be Von Miller by the time you’re ready to win a championship. If you don’t see it, there are a lot of places you could spend that money next year.

You need to know if the combination of Josey Jewell and Alexander Johnson is a inside-linebacking group that you feel comfortable with in the future. You need to know if there’s anything salvageable about your current tackle situation. You need to know if Bryce Callahan and A.J. Bouye is a legitimate 1-2 punch at cornerback. The list goes on.

The goal for the rest of this season is to find out who you want in your foxhole with you and begin to formulate your plan to replace those who you don’t. Be proactive, not reactive.

Step three: Evaluate Vic Fangio.

Listen, just like most of you, the last thing I want to do is see the Broncos go through another coaching search, but in the same way, you have to see what players you envision at the end of this road, you have to see what coaches you envision at the end of this road.

The only thing that sets you back more than a coaching change is holding on to a coach for too long and going through a coaching change at a later date.

You need to see if Fangio learns from his disastrous timeout fiasco in Week 1. You need to see if you believe in his ability to connect with the players. Most importantly, you need, need, need to know if Fangio can still be an elite defensive coordinator while being a head coach, and yes, this means knowing if he can be an elite play-caller from the sideline rather than the box. If he can’t, then I believe you need to first give him a chance to be a head coach from the box, and if you still don’t like that, then you need to make new plans.

Fangio wasn’t brought here to be a “leader of men” or any of those other coaching cliches, he was brought here to be a defensive genius, you need to give him every chance to be that before you decide what you want to do with him.

Moral of the plan: Be patient.

I’m incredibly confident that Denver has the beginnings of a core in place that can one day help them compete for a championship, and the good news is that the consolation prize for dealing with this ridiculous injury bug may just be a draft pick that helps them expand the size of that core.

With that in mind, the scoreboard just isn’t the most important thing right now, at least until Drew Lock returns, but even then, it will be more about seeing the right signs from him than it will be about winning games.

The Broncos and their leadership need to resist the cravings for short term satisfaction to give themselves a better chance at a lot more satisfaction long term.

This team was dealt a shitty hand this year, it’s up to the powers that be to play this hand into something that can help them in the future.