The Broncos would be 0-6 without their defense according to Mark Schlereth

The Denver Broncos got through their opening six-game stretch at 4-2, but the morning show warns that an offense ranked 31st in yards per game is putting that record at risk.

Before the season, the Broncos’ first six games looked like the hardest part of their schedule. Kansas City on the road, Jacksonville, the Rams, San Francisco on the road, the Chargers and the reigning Super Bowl champion Seahawks. Most people expected Denver to come out of that stretch around .500 and called that a success.

The Broncos finished 4-2. On paper, that beat almost everyone’s expectations. Look at how the wins happened, though, and the record looks shakier.

Denver’s offense ranks 31st in the NFL with 252.2 yards per game and 26th with 19 points per game. Only one team in the league is gaining fewer yards, and it’s the 1-5 Tennessee Titans. Most of the wins came from the defense, special teams and a few late plays. Thursday’s 17-14 overtime win over Seattle, when Bo Nix threw for 107 yards, was just the latest example.

On a recent edition of “Stokley and Evans, with Mark Schlereth” on 104.3 The Fan, Schlereth started by giving the record its due.

“You’re sitting there with the schedule going, ‘Hey, if we could win 3 of these first 6, even if we went 2-4, we’d still be okay.’ But to go 4-2 against that gauntlet everybody’s like, ‘Wow!'” Schlereth said.

He’s right that the result matters. A 4-2 start against that schedule puts Denver in good shape in the standings, and many teams that lose four of six games in September and October don’t recover.

“So, you could still look at it like, ‘Hey man, we played really tough teams and we found a way to be 4-2,’ which is great,” Schlereth said.

Then he turned to the part that worries him.

“But, the bottom line is the way you’re playing right now is unsustainable, and if the defense wasn’t balling out, you’d be 0-6,” Schlereth said.

That’s a harsh claim, and it’s hard to argue with. The Broncos needed 14 unanswered fourth-quarter points to beat Jacksonville. They trailed the Rams 16-0 at halftime. They beat a winless Chargers team by six. They needed overtime to beat Seattle on a night when the passing game barely moved the ball. The two losses, 31-10 at Kansas City and 24-14 at San Francisco, came on days when the defense couldn’t cover for the offense.

The offense’s problems are well known by now. Nix keeps leaving clean pockets and flushing to his right. He skips easy first reads while looking for big plays downfield. Blitz pickup has broken down repeatedly. The running game hasn’t given the offense much help, and J.K. Dobbins is averaging 3.3 yards per carry as the lead back. Sean Payton took play calling back from Davis Webb after four weeks, and two games later the offense still doesn’t look much better.

The schedule gets easier from here, which gives Denver some room to fix things. It also means the defense can’t keep winning games on its own forever. Defenses get tired, injuries pile up, and close games eventually go the other way. Last season the Broncos went 11-2 in one-score games, and Mike Evans warned this summer that the law of averages would catch up with them at some point.

The 4-2 record is real, and the Denver Broncos earned it. Schlereth’s point is that the Broncos can’t count on the defense to carry them for the next 11 games. If the offense doesn’t improve, the record probably won’t hold.

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