The Denver Broncos defeated the Chicago Bears in a 31-28 comeback win on Sunday, but coach Sean Payton isn’t taking a victory lap.
“I don’t want to sugarcoat anything — there are some things — we’re going to play a lot better teams on our schedule,” Payton said after the game.
Buy Broncos TicketsThe Broncos have plenty of positives to take away from Sunday’s victory — particularly on offense — but Payton is focused on areas to improve.
“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.”
Denver’s lone win of the season came against a Bears team that is now 0-4. Next week, the Broncos will host the 1-3 New York Jets. After that, the schedule gets much tougher with home and away games against the Kansas City Chiefs (3-1), a home game against the Green Bay Packers (2-2) and a road game against the Buffalo Bills (3-1).
The next few weeks could ultimately decide the Broncos’ season.
One area in particular that Payton wants to improve is penalties. Denver ranks third in the NFL with 33 penalties this season, including five false starts on Sunday.
“Got to clean up the penalties,” Payton said. “That’s driving me crazy. It’s something that has to get fixed. There are a number of things that we have to clean up.”
The Broncos won on Sunday, but they’re still a 1-3 team. There’s plenty of room for improvement in Denver.
