The Broncos are 4-2, but Mark Schlereth isn’t buying the idea that the record tells the whole story.
On a recent edition of “Stokley and Evans, with Mark Schlereth” on 104.3 The Fan, Schlereth praised Denver for surviving a brutal opening stretch, then cut straight to the concern that has hovered over this team all season: the offense hasn’t pulled its weight.
Before the year began, the Broncos’ first six games looked like a grind. They had Kansas City on the road, Jacksonville, the Rams, San Francisco on the road, the Chargers and the reigning Super Bowl champion Seahawks. Plenty of people expected Denver to come out of that run around .500 and call it a win.
Instead, the Broncos went 4-2.
“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.
That part is hard to argue with. The wins count, and Denver has banked a record most teams would take against that kind of slate. But the way the Broncos got there has raised a bigger question.
Denver’s offense ranks 31st in the NFL with 252.2 yards per game and 26th with 19 points per game. Only the 1-5 Tennessee Titans are producing fewer yards.
In other words, this hasn’t been a team winning with offensive firepower. It has leaned on defense, special teams and timely moments to scrape out results.
Thursday’s 17-14 overtime win over Seattle fit that pattern again. Bo Nix threw for 107 yards, and the Broncos still found a way to survive.
“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 came the warning.
“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.
The examples back him up. Denver needed 14 unanswered fourth-quarter points to get past Jacksonville.
The Rams had the Broncos down 16-0 at halftime. The Chargers game was a six-point win over a winless team.
Seattle pushed the Broncos to overtime on a night when the passing game barely got going. The two losses were more proof of the same issue: a 31-10 defeat at Kansas City and a 24-14 loss at San Francisco, both games where the defense couldn’t cover for an offense that never found a rhythm.
The problems on that side of the ball are familiar by now. Nix has been leaving clean pockets and drifting to his right.
He’s passing up easy first reads while hunting for deeper throws. Pass protection has broken down too often.
The run game hasn’t steadied things, and J.K. Dobbins is averaging 3.3 yards per carry as the lead back.
Sean Payton took back play calling from Davis Webb after four weeks, and even after two games, the offense still doesn’t look fully repaired.
There is at least one thing working in Denver’s favor: the schedule eases up from here. That gives the Broncos some breathing room to clean things up.
But it also raises the stakes for the defense. It can’t keep carrying the whole load forever.
Defenses wear down, injuries happen, and close games eventually swing 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 eventually.
For now, the record says 4-2. Schlereth’s point is that Denver has earned that mark, but not in a way that can last unless the offense starts doing a lot more.
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