The Denver Broncos now have a two-game losing streak after getting outclassed by the last-place team in the AFC West Thursday night.

The fourth-placed San Diego Chargers topped the Broncos 21-13 and gave them their first road loss in the division since Kyle Orton was replaced by Tim Tebow in 2011, also in San Diego.

And while there is plenty of blame to go around, most of it comes down to this: They are simply making too many mistakes.

More importantly, we’re learning that this team simply isn’t talented enough to overcome them.

The Broncos Thursday night appearance was a comedy of errors that started with confusion for the defense and ended with a Hail Mary pass that failed to even reach the end zone.

On the first two defensive series of the game, the Broncos vaunted defense allowed the Chargers to put together back-to-back drives that chewed up 75 yards each, and over 17 minutes of game clock.

The defense failed to stay with their assignments in the short passing game, and Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers was picking them apart with ease.

The offense was even worse.

They failed to generate a drive of more than 21 yards until late in the third quarter. This against a San Diego defense that has been allowing nearly 400 yards and more than 28 points per game.

Dropped passes, missed blocking assignments, poor throws and two turnovers doomed the Broncos offense.

And then there were the penalties.

It seemed that for most of the night the Denver Broncos offense could not have a positive play without committing an infraction.

The Broncos were flagged 12 times for a whopping 103 yards, while the Chargers had just three penalties for 20 yards. And please, keep in mind that the 103 yards does not include the yardage of the plays that were wiped out.

Three runs of 37 yards, and two passes for 35 yards and a touchdown, were erased after holding was called against various members of the offensive line.

And let’s not forget the two points that were awarded to the Chargers for the holding call in the end zone that resulted in a safety early in the fourth quarter.

Maybe we can write this game off to a short week. Or maybe it was too much to ask this team to play well when their head coach Gary Kubiak was back in Denver trying to recover from a “complex migraine,” for which he was hospitalized on Sunday.

Last year, in the season finale against these same Chargers, the Broncos somehow survived five turnovers and still managed to hold on for the win. But the fact is that this team is no longer purely talented enough to overcome all of these mistakes.

And if they are unable to cut down on the mental errors, and the lack of execution gaffes, this team is going to continue to struggle.