Jerry Rosburg’s two games showed that Nathaniel Hackett was the Broncos’ biggest problem

DENVER — The Broncos and their fans could have gotten used to this.

Four times Sunday against a Chargers defense featuring first-teamers, the Broncos crossed the goal line. And none of those touchdowns were layups; all came on drives that covered at least 75 yards.

That followed a narrow loss to in Kansas City that saw three touchdowns. Only one of those came on a short field; the others capped possession of 66 and 75 yards.

Seven touchdowns in two games.

In other words, the Broncos scored as many touchdowns in the two-game Jerry Rosburg era as they did in the first six games under Nathaniel Hackett.

If we learned anything from the two-game Jerry Rosburg era, it is this: I think we figured out where the biggest glitch in the Broncos’ system was — and it wasn’t the QB.

My postgame thoughts from the field, brought to you by Twin Peaks. pic.twitter.com/dDjToJLbrv

— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) January 9, 2023

They averaged 27.5 points per game under Rosburg, with Justin Outten calling the plays. They mustered just 15.5 points an outing with Hackett — and only 14.6 points per game when Hackett called plays, before ceding the responsibility to Klint Kubiak after nine games.

And Russell Wilson accounted for six touchdowns with Rosburg leading the way — 4 passing, 2 rushing. He accounted for 3.0 touchdowns per game with Rosburg — three times as many per outing as he did with Hackett.

Numbers only begin to tell the tale of how different the Broncos looked in their two games under Rosburg. And the reasons for Hackett’s struggles are more complex a simple endpoint of numbers.

But in the wake of the Broncos’ 31-28 win over the Chargers, it was fair to say this:

They stuck with Hackett far too long.

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THEY BEAT A LEGIT CHARGERS LINEUP

Sunday’s triumph was no gimme. Even though the Chargers had the No. 5 seed in the AFC postseason locked up, coach Brandon Staley made the baffling decision to play core starters such as Justin Herbert, Derwin James Jr., Keenan Allen and Khalil Mack deep into the second half.

Even the sight of wide receiver Mike Williams leaving the game on a cart due to a back injury didn’t deter Staley.

As a result, the Broncos played the Chargers on the up and up.

And the Broncos were the better team.

Do not let the narrow 3-point margin fool you: Denver established primacy and exhausted the Chargers to the point where the team that looked like a playoff-bound side actually wore orange jerseys with swooshes, not white with lightning bolts.

The Broncos were more dynamic and balanced on offense. They controlled the pace, running downhill in a way seen only in glimpses during the first 15 games of the season.

Denver racked up 471 yards on the beleaguered Chargers defense. The last time the Broncos had that many yards, Peyton Manning was coming off the bench to relieve Brock Osweiler — six years and five days earlier.

These Broncos of Rosburg played with poise. Remember when they seemed destined to shatter franchise records for penalties? Well, in the fortnight of Rosburg, they committed just six infractions.

A team that averaged 7.1 penalties per game in its first 15 games cut that per-game pace by 56 percent.

And yet Rosburg, ever modest, deferred the credit.

“I saw it coming actually in practice before our first game together at Kansas City. I saw a different — for lack of a better word — flavor,” he said. “I saw a little more attention to detail.

“It wasn’t because of me. I just think that everybody kind of came to a point where they’d seen enough and all these bad things happened, and they took it upon themselves to change it.”

Indeed, the Broncos did all the things they should have been doing for a while.

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IF ONLY …

That it took a coaching change for these things to happen says two things:

1. Hackett’s leadership wasn’t connecting. Upon reflection, it was a greater problem that it seemed before.
2. The Broncos’ next coach can look at a team strangled by injuries, see how well they played in the final weeks and say, “I don’t have to tear it down to build it back up.”

Rosburg spoke often in the last 14 days about planting seeds.

Sunday, we saw some sprouts. And whichever coach walks into UCHealth Training Center to assume the reins will not have to dig up and start over.

Just get out the water and tend to the garden.

“These past two weeks, guys didn’t come in and waver,” said WR Courtland Sutton. “Guys were in meetings engaged and locked in. Guys were at practice engaged and locked in, going hard, getting better, from the guys that were starting to the practice-squad guys.

“We’ve got a lot of guys in the locker room who give a [flip] about the game. They care. They want to win. And I think whoever comes in here as the next head guy is going to definitely be able to see that, and we’re going to be able to grow.”

That said, even if the Rosburg Effect had been allowed to take root sooner, injuries would have surely prevented this team from being a championship contender. While gallant and game, the Broncos wouldn’t have had the manpower to make a shock run through the AFC postseason gauntlet, even if they had snuck in at a modest 9-8.

But after watching the Rosburg-led games, it didn’t seem impossible to think that if the Broncos had made a coaching change earlier, the feeling of Sunday might have been different.

That most of those 13,202 no-shows might have squeezed into their plastic seats to watch.

That maybe, just maybe, these Broncos would have had something on the line Sunday besides pride.

Firing head coaches during their initial seasons on the job is exceptionally rare. And when the Broncos sacked Hackett on Boxing Day, he became only the second NFL coach to be fired without completing his first season since 1979.

The other coach fired was Urban Meyer in 2021. And he had to skip a team flight home, allegedly kick a player and verbally harangue his assistant coaches to reach the point of dismissal.

In other words, the threshold for whacking a coach during the first season is high. And that’s part of why Hackett held on for as long as he did. The Broncos’ brass knew what an in-season firing in Year One meant.

But perhaps now, it might be something that happens when you know the coach isn’t right for the job. That owners may follow the advice of former Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley, who, upon firing a coach during a season, said, “What should be done eventually, must be done immediately.”

An earlier change might have left Broncos Country feeling very different.

Instead, the Broncos are left with a year wasted. They absorbed nine one-score losses that included games frittered away by baffling decision-making, play-calling that often failed to acknowledge the realistic strengths and weaknesses of the players, and a flurry of flags.

It could have been so different.

But sadly, they had the wrong leader in command.

And as it turned out, the right person was an erstwhile football retiree who showed up in Week 3 to try and fix game management.

Rosburg ended up fixing the entire team.

But it was far too late to save the Broncos.

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