Clayton: After Thursday night’s loss, the Broncos are in big trouble

Let’s not mince words. The Broncos are in big trouble. And I mean big trouble.

They’ve lost four in a row against good teams after going 3-0 against some of the weakest teams in the league. They are showing a continued pattern of failure.

Even though last night’s game was predictably low-scoring, knowing the Browns injury problems on offense and Teddy Bridgewater playing with a foot injury, things have been bad. During the four-game losing streak, the Broncos have basically scored about 16 points per game, while giving up a little over 25.

The Broncos are at the stage where jobs will be on the line if this continues. Everyone will be evaluated, including head coach Vic Fangio.

The season was set up for the defense to be in the top 10. They aren’t even close.

They continue to struggle stopping teams on third down. They let the Browns convert nine-of-15 third downs. The Broncos are one of the worst defenses in the NFL in those situations.

The thing that was interesting on Thursday night was that Denver didn’t play cornerback Kyle Fuller, who signed a one-year, $9 million contract. Instead, they went with first-round choice Patrick Surtain.

Fuller has struggled in the past couple games and gave up big plays a couple weeks ago in the loss to Pittsburgh. The Browns didn’t have quarterback Baker Mayfield, running backs Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt and right tackle Jack Conklin. Wide receiver Odell Beckham wasn’t the same because of his shoulder injury.

Nevertheless, backup quarterback Case Keenum had no trouble against the Broncos defense. He had an easy, long opening drive and had a 10-0 lead in the first quarter. The Broncos never looked as though they had a chance to overcome it and didn’t.

Even worse, the defense let third-string running back D’Ernest Johnson rush for 146 yards. Terrible.

Part of the problem is injuries at linebacker. The Broncos started the game without five injured linebackers. During the game, Micah Kiser and Von Miller got hurt. Too many injuries and not enough experienced players left.

On offense, other than five catches by Courtland Sutton, the Broncos offered nothing. Teddy Bridgewater couldn’t throw the ball well deep because of the foot injury. For the game, he threw for 187 yards and was sacked twice. The line struggled against the Browns defense line.

This team is in trouble. They need to find a way to turn things around. Quickly.

Related

Broncos star CB Pat Surtain II again voted a top-10 player in the NFLIn Broncos loss, they got a win in something specific that truly matteredBo Nix happy with ‘solid’ first TD drive, says return ‘was like riding a bike’Sean Payton unhappy after Packers demolish Broncos, sends message to startersBroncos waste no time getting Jaylen Waddle involved in his preseason debutBo Nix throws a TD, leads two scoring drives in return from broken ankle