Broncos have their work cut out for them in rallying from 0-2 start

Once again, the Denver Broncos find themselves off to a slow start. And once again, creating a proper turnaround will require being in the minority of teams with which these Broncos share company.

The Broncos have experience at reversing their fortune, which helps. They turned a 1-5 opening into a 6-5 record last year before fading. So, to some degree, they have the road map — even though they must operate with a rookie quarterback.

The lesson of last year?

“That you’re never in the hole and you can always crawl out of it, type of thing,” tight end Adam Trautman said. “I would say we have — like, we’re not — We have the confidence to pull ourselves out of this.

I don’t think that’s a worry at all in this locker room, but, yeah, I mean, we did it last year and the guys who were here last year understand what it takes to do it.”

But the Broncos had decent offensive production through two weeks last year. That hasn’t been the case this time, which puts the Broncos in dubious company.

By starting 0-2 and scoring just one touchdown and averaging only 263 total offensive yards per game during that opening fortnight, Denver and Carolina became the 56th and 57th teams since the AFL-NFL merger to open a season with no wins, one or fewer touchdowns and 275 or fewer yards per game their first two weeks.

Now, the Broncos look like the Greatest Show on Turf by comparison to those plodding Panthers, who averaged just 176.0 yards a game in the last two weeks. But where the Broncos stand still puts themselves in a spot from which few teams have emerged for successful seasons per data compiled through pro-football-reference.com.

5.1

Average wins in the 16-game schedule era (1978-2020) for teams that had this combination of circumstances.

Of the 55 previous teams since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger that began 0-2 with 1 or fewer touchdowns and 275 or fewer yards per game …

• 4 (7.3 percent) finished with winning seasons
• 3 (5.5 percent) made the playoffs
• 1 finished with double-digit regular-season wins (Philadelphia, 2003)
• 47 (85.5 percent) had losing seasons
• 37 (67.3 percent) lost at least 10 games

If these Broncos can make themselves a playoff team, they will have accomplished something statistically remarkable.

11-0

The record of teams for which Baker Mayfield was the primary quarterback (at least 20 attempts) when he completes more than 75.0 percent of his passes. That includes the Dec. 25, 2022 game that Mayfield started for the Los Angeles Rams, when he diced up Denver to the tune of a 24-for-28 day en route to a 51-14 Rams flogging of the Broncos that was followed by the sacking of then-coach Nathaniel Hackett one day later.

When Mayfield completes 67.0 to 75.0 percent of his passes, his teams are 9-9. From 60.0 to 66.9 percent, they’re 14-15. And below a 60-percent completion rate, they’re 12-25.

The Broncos are expecting Mayfield to be on point.

“I’ve always thought he was a good player. I’ve never really bought into what the media has been saying about him or anything like that,” Denver edge rusher Jonathon Cooper said. “And obviously right now he’s playing probably the best football he’s played in his career.”

4-14

Denver’s record in 1 p.m. games in the Eastern Time Zone during the team’s run of seven-consecutive losing seasons, including four-straight losses coming into Sunday. The Broncos’ last 1 p.m. win in Eastern Time came on Sep. 19, 2021 against the Urban Meyer-led Jacksonville Jaguars.

Not surprisingly for a team with offensive issues in recent years, the Broncos failed to reach 20 points in more than half — 11 — of those 18 games.