The Denver Broncos are in "do-or-die" mode after two weeks

DENVER, Colo. — The Broncos are in trouble. Already.

Eight days into their 2024 campaign, the Denver Broncos have two losses. On Sunday, they fell 13-6 to the Pittsburgh Steelers in their home opener.

The 0-2 start isn’t the big problem. The big problem is that the Broncos might not be built to overcome it.

“Off-season and regular season are completely different things,” guard Quinn Meinerz said after the game. “You get ready. You try to prepare as best you can for the regular season. When it’s finally here, there’s going to be unexpected challenges and some adversity. And we’re experiencing that adversity early, and so we got to continue to stick together, see the light at the end of the tunnel, and keep putting the pressure on us, because it’s on us at the end of the day.”

What is the problem in Denver?

An easier question to answer would be, what isn’t?

Let’s start at the top. The Broncos’ coaching has not been good enough.

Sometimes, coaching can be difficult to quantify. Like when the offense is struggling to move the ball, and it feels like there are solutions coaches aren’t seeing, but you can’t say for sure.

Head coach Sean Payton admitted after the game that he needs to clean up his offense.

“That starts with me,” he said. “We have to start really looking at who we are asking to do what. It was frustrating because there were certain elements that went according to plan field position-wise. Our inability to score and convert third downs ultimately hurt us.”

Sometimes, coaching mistakes are tangible. For example, the Broncos lead the NFL in penalty yards. They rank third-worst in penalty margin. They gave the Steelers five free first downs with penalties on Sunday.

The clock management has been poor, too. On Sunday, the Broncos attempted to convert a 4th & 7 instead of kicking a 56-yard field goal near the end of the second quarter. They kicked a pair of field goals later in the game when they could have tried to convert 4th-and-mediums while facing a 13-point deficit.

The biggest clock management decision came after the second field goal.

The Broncos pulled within seven points of the Steelers with 1:54 to play. Denver had one timeout left. Payton could either kick off to the Steelers or try an onside kick.

“It was just weighing the odds versus recovering an onside kick or getting the ball back with 26 seconds,” Payton said. “We chose to kick off.”

But 26 seconds was optimistic. Let’s do the math. Here’s how you get to 26 seconds…

Kickoff: Touchback. No time comes off the clock.

1st down: The Steelers run the ball. At least three seconds come off the clock. The Broncos call the timeout with 1:51 left.

2nd down: Another run takes at least three seconds, but the Broncos are out of timeouts. The Steelers can burn 39 of the 40 seconds on the play clock. There’s 1:09 left.

3rd down: Another run takes at least three seconds. The clock runs. There are 26 seconds left.

Payton’s math is right, but it was also assuming each play was as short as it possibly could be. In reality, they took an additional eight seconds more than Payton anticipated. The 26-second mark doesn’t include the time lost during the punt, either.

While getting the ball with 26 seconds would have given the Broncos a chance to make a couple of quick passes to set up a hail mary, Denver didn’t get nearly that much time.

The Steelers snapped the ball on their punt with 18 seconds remaining… and that play took nine seconds.

The Broncos got the ball back at their own 19-yard line with nine seconds on the clock. They were doomed.

To be fair to Payton, he may have been in a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation. Onside kicks work about once every 17 tries. The odds are that the Broncos wouldn’t have gotten the ball back anyway.

And even if the Broncos did get the ball back, they’d be giving it to an early contender for the worst offense in the NFL.

Only four teams have scored fewer points than Denver this year. Two of them (the Chicago Bears and the Atlanta Falcons) haven’t played their Week 2 games yet. If you take away the two safeties the Denver defense has scored, the Broncos fall behind the New York Giants.

All of a sudden, the only offense worse than the Broncos is the Carolina Panthers.

The Broncos haven’t found a productive running back. Javonte Williams carried the ball 11 times on Sunday. He produced 17 yards. He’s sitting on a 2.1 yards-per-carry average through two games.

“As far as us and the run game, we just have to stay more consistent and just keep our head down and keep getting to it,” Williams said after the game. “We’re all professionals.” 

Denver’s change-of-pace back, Jaleel McLaughlin, hasn’t fared much better. He’s carried the ball 10 times for 27 yards, a 2.7 yards-per-carry average.

In both games, rookie quarterback Bo Nix was the team’s leading rusher.

The receivers have also struggled. After a handful of Denver drops in Week 1, tight end Greg Dulcich dropped a pair of passes on Sunday.

Young speedsters Marvin Mims Jr. and Troy Franklin are nowhere to be found. They’ve contributed 10 yards.

Courtland Sutton, the Broncos’ only Pro Bowler on offense, followed up a four-catch, 38-yard performance in Week 1 with a one-catch, 26-yard outing on Sunday.

“We know that we have talent,” Sutton said. “We know that we trust in the system and the game plans being put together, it’s just we’re not executing them.”

Josh Reynolds, a free-agent addition in the offseason, is the Broncos’ top receiving threat. He brought in a 49-yard deep ball on a trick play on Sunday, giving him 138 yards so far this season.

“[I’m] pleased with what he’s doing,” Nix said. “He played really well down the stretch. He started to make some catches and find zones in the defense and got us some key conversions. He’s going to be a big part of what we do in the future.”

Unfortunately, the Broncos couldn’t capitalize on the big play… which brings us to the quarterback.

Nix is yet to throw a touchdown. He leads the league with four interceptions, including one in the end zone on Sunday after Reynolds finally set the Broncos up in the red zone. Only Bryce Young of the Panthers has a lower passer rating.

Now, the Broncos are facing an 0-2 start for the second consecutive season. The last time they started 0-2 in back-to-back years was in 2019 and 2020. Before that, it was in 1965 and 1966.

Some slow-starting teams have found success, but since the league expanded to a 17-game schedule in 2021, only two of the 21 teams that started 0-2 have made the playoffs.

One of those teams was the Joe Burrow-led Cincinnati Bengals.

The other was last year when rookie quarterback CJ Stroud-led the Houston Texans to the playoffs.

Houston’s receivers—Nico Collins, Tank Dell, and Noah Brown—were unknown at the time. The running backs—Dameon Pierce and Devin Singletary—were nothing special. The Texan defense wasn’t as good as what the Broncos have.

None of that mattered, though, because Stroud elevated everybody around him. For the Broncos to turn things around and make the postseason, they’ll need Nix to do the same thing.

“I have good confidence,” Nix said. “I feel like I’ll continue to get better, look in the mirror, see what I can do, and evaluate myself. I think it’s important to look at it from a bigger perspective.” 

The Broncos are set for a two-game road trip. They’ll take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next week before heading north to play the New York Jets the next week. They’ll stay on the East Coast for the week between the games.

Denver will be a big underdog in both games. To save the season, they’ll need to steal at least one win… and maybe two.

Are the Broncos capable of bouncing back?

“We are going to find out quickly,” Payton said. “They are both good teams.”