Yes, Virginia, the Broncos are rebuilding

DENVER — In the end, the Broncos were left with the hope that a gust of wind would save them.

With four seconds remaining Sunday, Jacksonville Jaguars kicker Josh Lambo jogged onto the field from the east sideline, aligned himself for a 33-yard kick that matches the distance of an extra point and stared into a breeze that gusted up to 25 miles per hour. The flags above the scoreboard in the distance flapped in the south wind.

Since the start of the 2015 season, kickers have successfully converted 94.0 percent of their kicks from 33 yards away — field goals and extra points included. And blocked field goals have never been harder to get because of rules changes — including one that came in the wake of a dynamic play by Justin Simmons on an extra point at New Orleans 34 months ago.

That was back when the Broncos were 7-3 and just nine months removed from their Super Bowl 50 triumph.

The good times.

The glory days.

Now here the Broncos were, hoping for something to save them from 0-4, from their second eight-game losing streak in the last 24 months, from having a microscopic 0.83 percent chance of returning to the playoffs, from a third consecutive year of irrelevance on the NFL stage.

A gust from the gods.

A wayward snap.

A cleat getting stuck in the grass — anything.

All in hoping that this would allow them to cash in on the 1-in-17 chance that a 33-yard kick would fail.

This is what the Broncos have become in recent years.

From a juggernaut that imposed its will on others to stragglers that have will imposed on them.

From a powerhouse that had cakewalks on its schedule to a last-place side that IS the cakewalk.

From an offense that used to choke the life from opponents to one that couldn’t even give a fatigued defense a rest that lasted longer than your average commercial break.

From a defense that could close out an offense as few ever could to one that has now frittered away two clutch, potential-game-winning drives led by Joe Flacco in the past three weeks.

As a result, with four seconds remaining, the Broncos hoped for a stroke of luck.

It didn’t come. Lambo’s kick sailed through the uprights, and the Broncos were doomed once again, falling 26-24.

The Broncos are 4-12 in their last 16 games. They were 4-12 in the 16 before that. With a defeat next Sunday, they would have a nine-game regular-season losing streak that would be the franchise’s longest since a similar skid in 1967, and its second-longest ever, trailing an 11-game losing streak from the eighth game of the 1964 campaign to the fourth game of the 1965 season.

All this is what happens when you are rebuilding. You’re a construction project. Dust and debris are everywhere. Toilets are used as garbage receptacles for Big Gulp cups and fast-food wrappers.

And make no mistake, the Broncos are rebuilding. They’ve been rebuilding since the 2018 NFL Draft, a weekend that brought them some key foundational players: Bradley Chubb, Phillip Lindsay, Courtland Sutton and Royce Freeman. More arrived this year — Noah Fant, who had his first pro touchdown Sunday, Dalton Risner, a tenacious leader in the making, and perhaps the most important component, Drew Lock, who sits on injured reserve for now.

Even if they will not say the word, they are a year into the rebuilding process.

Rebuilding teams are inconsistent from one game to the next, from one quarter to the next, just as the Broncos were Sunday, when they ran roughshod through the Jaguars for the first 29 minutes, then ran in place for nearly two full quarters.

Consider this: After Jacksonville safety Ronnie Harrison intercepted Flacco a minute before halftime, Jacksonville spent the next 17 minutes shredding the Broncos as though they were incriminating documents.

Before the interception, Jacksonville had 84 yards and five first downs earned on 18 snaps, an average of 4.7 yards per play and one first down every 3.6 snaps. But from Harrison’s pick until the end of the third quarter, the Jaguars averaged 8.7 yards per snap and one first down every 2.6 plays.

And the worst part of that was that the Jaguars simply outwilled the Broncos, particularly on the ground, where Leonard Fournette ran for 130 yards in the third quarter alone. He finished with 225 yards, making the Broncos defense responsible for 75 percent of the 200-yard rushing games amassed in the NFL in the past two seasons.

“They were pushing us around and he’s a big back and he broke tackles and moved the pile and we got whipped,” Broncos coach Vic Fangio said.

When a rebuilding team gets “whipped” up front, that is too much for the rest of the club to overcome.

Rebuilding teams also can’t close the deal against an average opponent missing an All-Pro cover cornerback and its intended starting quarterback. And even though the Broncos exposed Jalen Ramsey’s replacement, Tre Herndon, it wasn’t enough, as Gardner Minshew overcame five sacks to escape time and again.

Yes, the games are close. But rebuilding teams have narrow margins. Rebuilding teams snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

“It is not like we are sitting here getting dominated. They are there. We just have to finish it,” Lindsay said. “It reminds me of college a little bit when I was at CU. We were building and stuff like that and finally you get over the hump and start finishing games. Once you get that first win, you can start rolling. It’s like once you get that first touchdown you get rolling and it starts coming. We have to find a way to win.”

But the rebuilding process in Boulder was painful. 4-8, 2-10 and 4-9 records from 2013-15 are evidence of that.

Which leads to the final point:

Rebuilding teams have agonizing losses today that lead to thrilling wins tomorrow.

That “tomorrow” might not be around the corner this year.

But that rebuilding of the Broncos is well underway, even if no one will say the word.