Broncos offense in October is money in the fourth quarter — but it’s never been worse in the second and third quarters

The good news for the Broncos?

Their fourth-quarter offense in the last three weeks is the most productive it has been for any three-game span in 63 years, per data compiled via Pro Football Reference.

That’s how far back you have to go for the last time Denver amassed at least 54 fourth-quarter points in a three-game stretch.

In Weeks 3-5 of the 1962 season — their first campaign wearing their familiar orange and blue colors — the Broncos accumulated 55 fourth-quarter points in a loss to the Boston Patriots and wins over the New York Titans and Oakland Raiders.

So, the last time the they were as productive in the fourth quarter over a three-game stretch as they have been recently, they did so against teams that don’t have the same names as they carry today. In fact, the club now known as the New York Jets hasn’t answered to “Titans” since the first days of the Lyndon Johnson administration.

Those Broncos were on their way to a 6-1 start; they were the buzz of the American Football League after going 7-20-1 in their first two seasons. Of course, it didn’t last; they eventually went on a five-game losing streak, ended the 1962 campaign at 7-7 and would wait another 11 years before finally posting their first winning season.

So, there’s the good — and a past, cautionary tale about how having so much of your offense come in the fourth quarter doesn’t necessarily augur well for later.

But all that is balanced out by what precedes it. And in the second and third quarters, the Broncos are at an all-time low.

AND THEN THERE’S THE QUARTERS PRECEDING THE FOURTH FOR THE BRONCOS …

And that’s where all the concern lies.

Just as it’s been ages since the Broncos have been this productive over a three-game stretch in the fourth quarter, so too has it been a while since they were this fruitless over a three games in the second and third quarters — when they have scored ZERO points so far this month.

“A while” as in … NEVER.

The three October games marks the first time in club history that the Broncos have been shut out over the second and third quarters of three consecutive games.

And with just 13 points from quarters 1-3 so far this month, the Broncos have fewer points in a three-game single-season stretch than at any point since a three-game December stretch — Weeks 14-16 — of the 2016 season, when the offense collapsed down the stretch of a 9-7 season, also producing just 13 points over the first three quarters of games against Tennessee, New England and Kansas City.

You must go all the way back to Weeks 3-5 of the 1992 season for the last time the Broncos had fewer points — 12 — in quarters 1-3 over three games.

Oh, and all those screen passes? It’s not your imagination.

According to data compiled via Sumer Sports, only the Miami Dolphins have a higher percentage of their pass attempts used on screens than the Broncos this season. The Broncos call screens on 17.58 percent of their pass plays.

Last year, that figure was 17.19 percent; that was third-highest in the league, behind Miami and Chicago. Since Sean Payton became the Broncos’ head coach, the Broncos’ screen percentage of 16.13 percent is third in the NFL.

He’s made it clear that he won’t give up play-calling, and to be certain, his team has twice this month found ways to “clean up our mess.”

But if Denver’s offense can’t find consistency, the predictability could catch up to it.

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