Coming into this season, few Broncos fans would have picked Denver as a contender to win the Super Bowl. There are, however, expectations that Vic Fangio’s Broncos would be improved over its Vance Joseph coached predecessors. The crushing disappointment taken away from Monday nights’ performance against the Raiders was the possibility that such hopes may have been too high.
Entering their second year together, I fully expected Von Miller and Bradley Chubb to ruin Derek Carr’s day. If you had told me prior to the game that the Raiders would so masterfully shut them down, I would never have believed you. Going into the game against the Bears, I’d like to see Miller and Chubb get after Bears QB Mitch Trubisky... a lot. They are the cornerstone to just how good this defense can be. How they go, so do the Broncos and fans need them to ‘go’ well.
Offensively, let’s get the ball in the hands of the Broncos playmakers. Without getting into individual plays, it was apparent that play-calling, especially in the first half, was too cute for its own good. Coming into the game with the Bears, I’d like to see the Broncos Stretch the field with Emmanuel Sanders, feed Phillip Lindsay early and often, and, please, no dropped balls in the end zone... or at all.
Finally, and this needs to be a Broncos mantra going forward, no more field goals. When deep in our opponent’s end, Denver needs to take its shots into the end zone. Over the last couple seasons, Denver has been content to dump the ball off and pray that playmakers on offense can pizzazz their way into scoring. It’s become painfully obvious that other teams have figured this out. Denver can shock the world, and likely themselves, if they try something different.
What other things must Denver correct going into their game against the Bears? Laurie, Tim, and I break it all down in this week’s Something Something Broncos podcast. How do reflections on the Raiders loss bleed into expectations of Denver’s matchup against the Bears? Just what kind of season will this be? So many questions addressed in just one half-hour podcast.
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