The Denver Broncos’ losses tend to come in chunks, at least that’s what the previous 13 months would suggest. So there shouldn’t be too much shock to Thursday’s 21-10 loss to the San Diego Chargers.
“We’ve been in this situation before,” interim head coach Joe DeCamillis said on Friday morning. “We lost two games twice last year, and it turned out pretty good.”
On the Broncos’ journey to 12-4 last year their only losses came in back-to-back games, twice. In Weeks 9 and 10 the Broncos fell to the Indianapolis Colts and the Kansas City Chiefs. They then bounced back and won three straight until losing the next two to the Oakland Raiders and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Since then, the Broncos didn’t lose another meaningful game until this past Sunday to the Atlanta Falcons. Using last year as a reference point, DeCamillis isn’t worried about the Broncos’ recent two-game skid.
“We got to make sure our resilience and our team stays together, which they will,” DeCamillis said. “Our guys have a real good perspective, and they are prideful; they want to comeback and show that they can do a better job, just like the coaches do.”
Even though the Broncos lost on Thursday, the players and coaches will get a much-needed weekend off, according to DeCamillis.
“We’re really at the halfway point, when you look at it through preseason and all that stuff,” DeCamillis said. “It’s a great part of the schedule for us to get some rest, both players and coaches … that was a long night last night, and we need to rest.”
Head coach Gary Kubiak will be back with the team in his usual role when the team reconvenes on Monday in preparation for former Bronco Brock Osweiler and the Houston Texans the following Monday night. DeCamillis said he believes the players will use this weekend to get away, but he knows they will come back with a focused mindset.
“We will come back in on Monday and everybody’s going to be refreshed,” DeCamillis said. “We got a group of pros and we will come back and go to work.”
After a night of travel, DeCamillis confirmed that starting right tackle Russell Okung and wide receiver Cody Latimer both are in the concussion protocol; however, starting wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders is fine after dealing with a hip injury in the game.
While a two-game losing streak is concerning for everyone outside of the UCHealth Training Center, the Broncos aren’t phased, because they have been in this position before, and it turned out pretty well for them last season.