With only themselves to blame, here's how the Denver Broncos died by inches against the Pittsburgh Steelers

PITTSBURGH — Victory was in the Broncos’ hands Sunday, as it turned out.

It was in Alexander Johnson’s hands. Two potential interceptions, one cleanly dropped, and another that sailed through his grasp. After one of those near-picks, the Steelers crossed the goal line three snaps later; after the other, it happened on the next play.

It was in Javonte Williams’ hands, as he held the football following a determined 49-yard gallop through the Steelers seven minutes into the second quarter. All he had to do was hang on to the football before handing it to an official.

Instead, he spiked it. In this day and age, that’s a 5-yard delay-of-game penalty. And when asked after the game whether he was aware of the rule, he replied, “No.”

It wasn’t in Dre’Mont Jones’ hands, but all he had to do during Chris Boswell’s 51-yard field-goal attempt in the third quarter Sunday was avoid a penalty. Instead, he leapt and came into contact with a Pittsburgh blocker.

That’s a 15-yard penalty for leverage, and three plays later, Ben Roethlisberger dropped an 18-yard touchdown pass into Chase Claypool’s grasp. In the space between the penalty and the touchdown was one of Johnson’s near-interceptions, showing how the Broncos’ ecosystem of woe runs deep with interconnections.

If any one of these self-inflicted wounds is avoided, the Broncos’ flight home from Pittsburgh is a happy one. Instead, they sit in second place, losers of two games in a row and facing a must-win game next Sunday after a 27-19 defeat.

Pittsburgh came into Sunday having lost eight of its previous 10 games, including the postseason. In its last five games, Ben Roethlisberger had as many touchdown passes as interceptions — five apiece. He threw two touchdowns Sunday — one to Claypool and one to Diontae Johnson on a 50-yard bomb that saw Johnson sprint past Kyle Fuller, who was trailing in coverage.

Fuller later had a pass-interference penalty on third-and-15 one snap after Alexander Johnson’s first dropped interception, leading to a Najee Harris touchdown run tow plays later. Again, the ecosystem of woe comes into play.

“He got beat,” Broncos coach Vic Fangio said of Fuller. “He had a bad day.”

Bad days and mistakes, they happen. Even the best teams have a day where the only way past it is to watch the game film to “Yakety Sax” at 10 times the speed.

Remember the Broncos’ home loss to the Chiefs during their 2015 run to a world championship? Or their two dreadful second halves in defeats to the Raiders and Steelers the next month? If you’re not the 1972 Dolphins, it happened to you, too.

But these Broncos aren’t like their 2015 brethren.

They are one of those sides that sits in the muddled middle that exists in every NFL season. They are part of a clustered class of clubs that play competitive games amongst themselves that are usually decided by a few plays and a mistake — or two, or three.

Pittsburgh is in that collection of teams. This makes the fact that the game ultimately came down to the final seconds no great surprise. The difference was that when the Steelers had opportunities, they seized them, while the Broncos let them flutter to the ground.

It was death by inches.

Denver doesn’t possess a margin for error against teams in this middle class, let alone against foes like the Baltimore Ravens, who are clear and viable championship contenders.

The Broncos have six games remaining against that top flight of clubs: one each against the Browns and Cowboys and two against the first-place Chargers and the two-time defending AFC champion Chiefs. At the other end of the spectrum, they have a December home game against the woeful Lions.

That leaves five games against teams occupying the space between. And if the Broncos make the type of self-inflicted wounds against the Raiders, Football Team, Eagles and Bengals that they did Sunday, they’ll lose games that they are good enough to win.

The Broncos’ season-long margin for error is just about gone. Any more games defined by self-inflicted wounds like Sunday’s, and they won’t even reach George Paton’s stated — and modest — goal of playing meaningful games in November and December.

Victory was in the Broncos’ hands at Heinz Field, and they dropped it like a greased bottle of ketchup. Now they must clean up the mess.