The Denver Broncos fell behind 20-0 in the first half against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday and they trailed 23-0 entering the fourth quarter.
Broncos rookie quarterback Bo Nix then led three scoring drives to make it 23-16 and the team was an onside kick away from getting a chance to tie the game. The onside attempt failed and Denver fell to 3-3, but the team never quit and battled until the end.
That counts for something, right?
“Week-in and week-out that there’s no quit in this team,” wide receiver Courtland Sutton said. “Down 23-0, it could have been easy for us to lay down and say, ‘Oh, they got us today’, but no. We went out there and we put our best foot forward in that half and came a little short. Those are the sins from the first half, and that’s something that we can address, and it’s something that we can fix.
“However, that second half showed everything that we needed to know about this team and that there’s no quit. Everybody’s going to continue to battle, continue to fight, until the clock has four zeros on it. I tell the guys all the time, they’re going to get everything I got the entire game, until it says zero. Whatever it may be, and I know that every guy in this locker room believes that we can accomplish whatever we want.”
The Broncos clearly need to play with more urgency from the start of games, but it is a good sign that the team doesn’t give up.
“It shows that no matter what type of adversity we’re going through, we will rally together,” guard Quinn Meinerz said. “No matter what, we’re still going to be fighting until the clock says zero.”
Defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers echoed that sentiment: “I said it in training camp, I wasn’t born with a quit button. Nobody on this team was either and you saw it in that second half. We have got to start faster, we understand that, but you have next week for that.”
Rallying back is great, but the players also know they have to start games better. Sunday’s deficit proved to be too large to overcome.
“We never wavered,” pass rusher Nik Bonitto said. “We always knew we can come back in the game, no matter how many points. We’ve seen it last year, against Chicago and in multiple games, but we just have to come out with better urgency.”
Denver’s left tackle, Garett Bolles, said he was proud of the team’s effort to fight back after falling behind.
“[We’re] relentless,” Bolles said. “This team is young and full of dogs. It really is. You know, me being the older guy, you know, being around these young guys, that fuels me. I’m very grateful for this team. We don’t have one single quitter on this team. We’re just a bunch of dogs that are just hungry and humble, and we just want to win and play ball.
“You know, we got to work out some kinks. Obviously, we got some things that we got to fix but to come back, being down by 20 or 23 points and scoring 14 points, that’s hard to do in this league. It really is hard, but we have nothing but fighters, and I couldn’t be more proud of this team after a loss like this.”
Fittingly, Nix had perhaps the best message after the game.
“It’s tough, but I think that’s our team,” the QB said. “I think that’s what kind of team we have. We have a very determined and hard-working team. We’re able to get down and continue to fight. Not every game is going to be easy. We’re not going to blow every team out. Sometimes you get knocked down early [and] you’ve got to find a way to gut it out at the end. The fact that we gave ourselves a chance there at the end to have another opportunity says a lot about our team. I’m excited about this team. I know today wasn’t what we wanted, but I feel like we’re headed in the right direction with how we finished the game.
“You can’t normally take moral victories after a loss, it’s tough. Nobody likes to lose. Nobody wants to be on that side, but you can look at it and you can only go two ways. You can continue to go backwards, let it defeat you, let it crush you, and you get in your head, or you’re going to continue to move forward. I believe our team is going to continue to move forward [and] stay motivated. Today didn’t settle well with us. We’re going to continue to battle, find ways to get better, and continue to put good stuff on the field.”
Spoken like a team captain.
The Broncos will face the Chargers again in Week 16.
“We have to be better,” coach Sean Payton said. “We will see them again at some point and we will go from there.”
