After a fluky, darn near inexplicable, season-opening loss in Kansas City, the Denver Broncos are back on track.

They’re the same ol’ Broncos – the team we saw advance all the way to the AFC Championship game last season, the team that finds a way to win close games, the team that’s built on defense (and tackling, thank goodness.)

On Sunday, the Broncos avenged their only home loss of the season last year by beating the Jacksonville Jaguars 20-13 in front of a home crowd that wasn’t exactly sure what to expect heading into the game. The run-it-back Broncos looked so bad against the Chiefs on Monday Night Football, there was an uneasiness surrounding a team that won a whopping 14 games last season. The defense that dominated the NFL last season but couldn’t tackle on Monday night, bounced back to hold the Jags to 268 yards of total offense and just one touchdown. The Broncos even introduced Denver to the newest toy in the toybox, Jaylen Waddle; the biggest acquisition of the offseason arrived at Empower Field with a bang, hauling in eight catches for 138 yards. He was exactly what the Broncos had hoped he would be.

Most importantly, the Broncos won. Sitting at 1-1 feels a lot better than sitting at 0-2 with the L.A. Rams next up on the docket.

Take a big sigh of relief, Broncos Country, these are the Broncos we know.

… Including the painful, throw-things-at-your-television-worthy, curse-inducing, might-as-well-nap-until-halftime, slower-than-slow, slowwwww starts.

Yesterday wasn’t all Mile High bluebird skies and orange sunsets, though. Out of the gates, the Broncos were downright awful – boo-bird bad.

If a neutral observer watched only the Chiefs game and the first half against the Jags, they surely would have included that the Broncos might be one of the worst teams in the entire league. By halftime, even the most faithful of Broncos fans were left scratching their heads.

Why can’t the Broncos get out of the gates?

Funny thing, this isn’t new. The same team that won 14 games a year ago did the exact same thing. They were bad from the jump, 1-2 to start the season and generally speaking, bland – if not discouraging – early on in most games last season. Like yesterday, they ended up the way everyone wanted.

“Kind of felt like it was really a tale of two halves,” Sean Payton said after the game.

Sure does, coach. Week in. Week out.

But hey, if you’re going to do that and go 14-3 again, who are we to whine?

What we should wonder, however, is why?

Is this a Bo Nix problem? Or is it a Payton/Webb problem?

Is Bo bored when the game isn’t on the line, so much so that he doesn’t perform like he does (so well and so often) in the fourth quarter? Yesterday, the franchise quarterback looked awful in the first half. He was off-schedule, looking uncomfortable going through his progressions and often chucking the ball at the feet of a receiver like he was protesting. He was throwing off his back foot, and tossed one interception that should have never been thrown in the first place.

First halves have Nix yawning. Fourth quarters bring signs of Seven.

Surely a competitor like Nix would prefer to perform in early in the game though. Is it possible that – regardless of who’s on the headset – the gameplan he’s being forced to execute is simply holding him back?

“He stuck to the plan, he stuck to his gameplan…” Nix said of new play caller Davis Webb after the game.

That’s not the whole soundbite; Nix gave Webb credit for sticking with it until the bitter end, which also included three frustratingly bad J.K. Dobbins runs inside the 5-yard line that resulted in a field goal. That’s not on the quarterback, is it? In the end, it worked out, but still…

Is it possible that the game plan heading into each game changes drastically by the end of it? Every game dictates how plays are called from the beginning to the end, but can’t the Broncos ever show up on a Sunday with one that works in the first quarter? What gives?

Nix was later asked what exactly helps him and his team perform well (differently) at the end of games.

His answer was long and filled with examples of almost-worked-plays and compliments to the opponents. Somewhere buried deep in his answer, however, he said these words:

“It’s not easy to play our game.”

Makes you wonder why the Broncos always seem to be a tale of two halves. Is “their game” doomed from the start until it changes? Or is their quarterback a rare breed who needs a few cups of coffee and a halftime scare before he becomes the superhero we’ve come to love?

Against the Rams next Sunday night, a sluggish start won’t work.