In spite of season-opening win, the Broncos were a big disappointment

The Broncos are 1-0. That’s cause for celebration in the Mile High City, right?

Not so fast.

Denver escaped from their Week 1 matchup against Tennessee with a 20-12 victory. And most of the credit for the Broncos win goes to the Titans.

At the end of the first half, Tennessee could’ve gone into the locker room with a lead. Up 6-3, they had the ball on their own seven-yard line with 47 seconds to play and the Broncos only had two timeouts. Run the ball three times; it’s common sense.

Not for Brian Callahan. The Titans head coach decided to throw the ball on three straight plays, with a rookie quarterback. Tennessee went incomplete, incomplete and sack, and had to punt after burning just eight seconds off the clock.

The Broncos got the ball on the Titans 38-yard line, got a penalty and then threw a 22-yard touchdown to Courtland Sutton. It was a gift possession that Denver gladly accepted.

Fast forward to the third quarter. Callahan once again mismanaged a situation.

Trailing 13-12, the Titans punted the ball to the Broncos. Marvin Mims muffed the kick, giving Tennessee the ball at Denver’s 24-yard line.

It’s a guaranteed field goal at that point. Down one, the lead was there for the taking.

Nope. The Titans tried to throw the ball on second-and-eight, but were sacked. Then, they tried to pass again on third-and-24, but were sacked again. Facing fourth-and-35 from midfield, they had to punt.

Credit to Denver’s defense for making the plays. But that’s game mismanagement at its finest.

But Tennessee wasn’t done yet.

With 2:58 to play in the game, trailing 20-12, the Titans forced a third-and-five at the Broncos 48-yard line. Then, they stuffed the play, smashing Marvin Mims behind the line of scrimmage for a loss of five.

Nope.

Jeffrey Simmons was flagged for a questionable personal foul, as he pushed Mims to the ground at the end of the play. The Broncos caught a major break on the call, given that it’s tackle football.

Game. Set. Match. Right?

Think again. Denver gave Tennessee another chance.

Facing a fourth-and-eight from their own 36-yard line with 1:05 to play, the Broncos had two choices. Up 20-12,, they could try the 54-yard field to ice the game or they could punt the ball away and dare Cam Ward to go 90-plus yards in a minute to tie the game.

Sean Payton went with option C, choosing to go for it. Bo Nix’s pass went incomplete, giving the Titans life.

Of course, they couldn’t do anything with it. Four plays later, Denver’s defense had snuffed out any chance of a late-game rally. But that’s beside the point.

In almost every way, the Broncos were terrible on Sunday against the Titans. At the very least, they were a cause for concern.

Denver couldn’t run the ball. Outside of one 50-yard carry by R.J. Harvey, the Broncos had 101 yards on 29 carries. That a continuation of a problem that’s plagued them the past two seasons.

Nix was awful. The second-year quarterback was 25-of-40 for 176 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. He also had a fumble. His quarterback rating was 60.0.

He missed wide-open receivers. He threw into coverage. He looked like a mediocre, at best, quarterback.

In the end, none of it mattered. The Broncos were playing the worst team in the NFL, one that had the No. 1 overall pick in the draft in April, so they could get away with being terrible. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t cause for concern.

A season ago, the Broncos amassed a 10-7 record and made the playoffs because they were able to beat bad teams. But their run through the AFC South, NFC South and the Jets was at least impressive; most weeks, Denver blew out bad opponents. That wasn’t the case on Sunday.

The Titans are awful. And the Broncos let them hang around. That’s a problem.

Sunday’s effort won’t get it done next week in Indianapolis. The Colts rolled in Week 1 against the Dolphins.

It won’t work in Week 3 at the Chargers. Los Angeles beat Kansas City on Friday night.

And it won’t be enough at the end of the month when the Bengals come to town. Cincinnati is 1-0 after holding off Cleveland.

The Broncos got their layup. And they almost botched it.

If this season is going to be anything to remember, Denver has to be better than they were against Tennessee. Their dismal effort in an opening-game win looked won’t get it done moving forward.

The Broncos are 1-0. But they certainly didn’t look like a playoff-caliber team in Sunday’s win.

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