Broncos offensive problems remain unsolved, but they still have just enough

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Two teams with ill offenses collided at SoFi Stadium on Sunday.

For three of the four quarters of what would be a 23-17 Broncos win, the Chargers offense was an immovable object. Denver’s offense, meanwhile, was a decidedly resistible force; in the end, its 23 points accumulated over five possessions with scores owed a massive helping hand to its defense and special teams, which set the offense up to start five possessions in Los Angeles territory. Four ended in scores — including all three of the Broncos’ scoring series in the fourth quarter, the critical 13 points that overturned a 17-10 Chargers lead.

Denver’s offense benefitted from a second-half average drive-start position of the Los Angeles 46-yard line.

That’s how you win despite gaining just 224 yards. Despite an offense that is averaging just 269 yards per game, the franchise’s lowest figure at this point in a season in 34 years, when the offense never recovered and ultimately then-coach Dan Reeves paid for it with his job after 12 seasons.

No such fate is coming for Sean Payton after his contract extension and the three previous years of steady progress from the 5-12 disaster he inherited nearly four years ago. But his first game back as the full-time play-caller after ceding the duties to offensive coordinator Davis Webb for the previous four weeks saw an offense that was inconsistent at best, and outright dreadful for long stretches.

The Broncos opened the second half by failing to generate a first down on their first four possessions — one of which saw them fritter away prime field position after a 27-yard Marvin Mims Jr. set them up at the 27-yard line.

Fortunately for the Broncos, that was their last three-and-out of the day. But nevertheless, six of 13 possessions ended without the offensive moving the chains. Getting drives started remains a problem, even though the Broncos did start the game faster, scoring almost as many first-half points Sunday (10) as in the first four games combined (13).

Their five wide receivers didn’t break 75 yards as a collective. Bo Nix spent much of his day trying to escape the pass rush while struggling to push the ball downfield.

But they escaped further damage in the win-loss column.

CHARGERS’ FATE WAS A REMINDER TO BRONCOS: THINGS COULD BE A LOT WORSE

The difference between the two sickly offenses on display Sunday under the giant carport-style roof is that the Chargers are a terminal case. At 0-5, they reside in territory from which no NFL team has ever recovered to make the postseason.

The Chargers are — barring an in-season revival the likes of which the NFL has ever seen — done for the year. Their quarterback, Justin Herbert, now sits dead last among eligible passers in ESPN’s QBR metric.

In other words, as deep in the muck as the Broncos offense sits, the Chargers are objectively in a worse spot all around. It’s not just their record, it’s that they had four rookies on the offensive line and a depleted wide receiver corps. They were so banged up that Ladd McConkey got a jersey and was active Sunday even though the Chargers had no intention of playing him, simply because they’d used their limit of inactive players and someone had to suit up to fill out the roster.

That’s the Chargers’ reality. From a team that in the offseason looked as if it could go neck-and-neck with the Broncos for AFC West supremacy to a hollowed-out husk of a club with a quarterback in Justin Herbert who ranks dead last in the NFL among eligible passers in ESPN’s QBR metric.

Denver has hope. The worst it can be after this opening six-game stretch is 3-3. And throughout the offseason, when looking at the opening sextet of contests that dealt the Broncos a brutal hand to open the campaign, it was fair to assess that a .500 record through six games would be sufficient to leave the defending AFC West champions in solid shape to mount a run through the final two-thirds of the schedule and achieve their goal of ending its season in the NFL’s most overrated stadium in Super Bowl LXI.

The upcoming Thursday-night duel with the Seattle Seahawks might have been a “must-win” for the Broncos had they not rallied in the fourth quarter Sunday. Instead, they did what they seemingly always do: they found enough propulsion at the most opportune time to snatch a win from the fire.

This was the 14th-straight one-score game won by the Broncos with Nix at quarterback. And as was the case with their two previous wins this regular season, they trailed in the second half; they now have post-halftime comebacks from deficits of seven, 10 and 16 points to their name in their three wins.

But at some point, that good fortune in tight contests will run dry.

“We don’t have to make it this way,” Broncos right tackle Mike McGlinchey said. “I would like to see us control football games from start to finish — and we will. But it’s good to have this trait in our back pocket.”

Added running back J.K. Dobbins, who ran for a season-high 68 yards Sunday — including 41 in the fourth quarter: “We’re making progress. We’re nowhere near where we want to be — and we will get there.”

If the Broncos are to return to SoFi Stadium in February, they’d better.

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