Russell Wilson shows that he’s still cool and calm under pressure

The Denver Broncos are in the win column after Sunday – barely. The traveled to take on the 0-3 Chicago Bears and came out on top, but it took a rigorous comeback and better defensive play to do so in the second half after falling behind 21-7 over the first two quarters. A third-quarter touchdown put the Bears up 28-7, but the Broncos fought back to win by a score of 31-28.

So, how should Broncos fans feel about this win. It’s the first of the year, and hopefully a few more will come soon, but it also takes them out of the running for the no.1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.

After the game, Payton talked about his team’s resiliency.

“You know, where we were at in that game, I told the players afterwards, look, there is a lot of things that we’re going to have to clean up. We are still not doing well. But the one thing that I was proud of is they hung in there. They fought when it would’ve been real easy not to. We came up with enough plays in the end, but we’re going to have to play a lot better if we think we want to win more games this season,” Payton said.

Here are three observations from the Broncos comeback win over the Bears in Week 4.

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Lightning Power

Ever since rookie minicamp, running back Jaleel McLaughlin has been standing out on the football field. It’s one thing to do it in practice, as McLaughlin did in rookie minicamp, OTAs, mandatory minicamp, and training camp. It’s quite another thing to perform at a high level in a regular season game.

McLaughlin has flashed just a bit this season, but his usage was always kept to a limited number of snaps. On Sunday, McLaughlin was asked to do more than before when starting RB Javonte Williams was knocked out with a hip injury – and the rookie responded with great play.

As a runner, McLaughlin reminds me of Phillip Lindsay. Like Lindsay, McLaughlin is a compact runner who is not afraid to mix things up between the tackles. He’s not a pile-pusher, but McLaughlin is an “inside out” runner who hits the hole hard and then bounces things outside at the second level of the defense. Against the Bears, McLaughlin led the team in rushing with 72 yards (on just seven carries) while also contributing as a receiver with three catches for 32 yards and one touchdown.

Wilson loves what the rookie showed against the Bears.

“He was spectacular. Obviously seeing Javonte go down was tough because he’s been great for us so far. I think Jaleel is a young rookie. The spirit of him is what’s amazing, his confidence. He’s got God all over him. He has great confidence all over him. He just believes how great he can be. He works at it every day. Guy gets here early to the facility, like you guys know, and he’s so dedicated to the game. And of course, it translates to playing well, and he did a great job.” Wilson said.

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Poise Under Pressure

Wilson has always been cool in the biggest moments of his NFL career. Dating back to his college days at both North Carolina State and Wisconsin, Wilson showed up big when it seemed like all was lost. Even though things haven’t worked out great for Wilson in a Broncos’ uniform (this was only his fifth win as their starter), that old skill set came through against the Bears.

With the team down – but not out – Wilson stayed positive (of course) and rallied his team from a 21-point deficit. It’s that confidence that helps Wilson make plays when the chips are down. He was taking big hits, but Wilson was making big throws. He was scrambling for yards – and first downs – and sometimes he was getting hit after he gave himself up and slid (curiously, there were no flags thrown).

Even though things weren’t perfect for the guys up front on the offensive line, Wilson was sacked just one time against the Bears. They did a good job of keeping him clean, and if the play broke down Wilson had no problem extending the play either as a runner or passer. The confidence he was able to have in his protection allowed Wilson to lead the comeback with the offense at center stage since the defense was struggling so much.
Wilson talked about making plays when the game is on the line.

“When the game is on the line that’s when you got to love it most. That’s when you got to love it most. You got to have great belief and you got to have no fear. The biggest thing about winning and winning in comeback games and all that, it’s everybody. It’s not just you. Everybody staying poised, everybody believing. Had some great moments in my career, but that was one of my favorite ones. I remember I had one my rookie year here. It was a great matchup going down 99 yards. I just had that in the back of my head, we were going to win in game
and we believed it the whole third and fourth your. We just believed it, everybody did, and we all did that together.” Wilson said.

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Bonitto Thrives

The team made some changes after losing by 50 points last week against the Miami Dolphins. The largest change was to the starting lineup at the EDGE position with veteran Randy Gregory beginning the game on the bench. The team felt second-year pro Nik Bonitto deserved to start, and he produced the best single-game performance of his young career.

Bonitto has taken leaps and bounds over the last year, and it was obvious that his game looked different during the offseason. He still struggles to set the edge against the run, but Bonitto was fantastic when it came to rushing Bears’ QB Justin Fields. Bonitto had 2.5 sacks on the day – matching the total he’s collected during his NFL career. It was his pressure on Fields that helped the team get back in the game.

Bonitto pressured Fields, causing a fumble that was picked up by teammate Jonathon Cooper who rumbled 35 yards for a touchdown that tied the game at 28 apiece. He was energized by starting over Gregory on Sunday, and that move helped the Broncos win their first game of the season.
Payton praised the young pass-rusher’s performance.

“Thought he played well. Getting more reps. We had him starting ahead of Randy, and he’s just got continue to stay at the level of the quarterback, not behind the quarterback. But I felt like the edges were much better today. Those guys played better. Tough quarterback to contain. We wanted to make we were cage rushing him and he had to beat us in the pocket and not out of the pocket. We felt like if we could keep him there, we would get an opportunity. Certainly that’s what happened in the last play where Kareem intercepted it. We had him kind of right where we wanted him in the pocket.” Payton said.

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