INGLEWOOD, Calif. -- As his teammates were packing their bags in the SoFi Stadium visitors' locker room, Denver Broncos right tackle Mike McGlinchey was trying to make sense of another game that had gotten away.
"We weren't good enough [Sunday]," McGlinchey said. "I'm proud of the way we keep battling, but we've just got to be better."
But until the Broncos show they can close the deal in a tight game, more frustration awaits. They have let back-to-back games get away when having the lead in the closing minutes and are a handful of plays away from what could be a 3-0 start. Instead, they are 1-2. It is yet another slow start after Denver began 2024 at 0-2 and 2023 at 1-5.
In Week 2, the Indianapolis Colts got a second chance at a game-winning field goal on the game's final play because of a penalty. On Sunday, the Broncos allowed the Los Angeles Chargers to score 10 points in the closing five minutes to fall 23-20 while not managing a single first down in that stretch.
"We didn't get the job done and we've got to figure it out," Broncos running back J.K. Dobbins said.
Broncos coach Sean Payton, terse about the penalties and lost opportunities, called Monday's film session "more important" than Sunday's game. Film means getting to the corrections and getting back on track. And it has been a collection of mostly self-inflicted issues that have gotten in the way for Denver.
Here are three trends that help explain why the Broncos are currently where they are through three weeks.
Too many penalties
The Broncos are headed the wrong way in the penalty department. They started with six accepted penalties in the opener, which grew to eight against the Colts. That included a leverage penalty on a missed game-winning 60-yard field goal attempt that in turn gave Indianapolis a shot at the successful 45-yard game-winner.
Sunday was even worse, with Denver drawing 10 penalties against the Chargers. Denver committed three defensive penalties on one Chargers field-goal drive, and safety Talanoa Hufanga's fourth-quarter unnecessary roughness penalty aided the drive which allowed Los Angeles to tie the game 20-20. Add in tight end Adam Trautman being called for offsides and edge rusher Nik Bonitto getting flagged for lining up in the neutral zone on a punt, and Denver has a big problem.
"We've got be able to align correctly ... that needs to be cleaned up fast," Payton said.
"Offside on the offense, I didn't even know that was possible," quarterback Bo Nix said. "Those things we've just got to fix, that's accountability on us and we'll fix them. Just can't have them happen."
Not connecting on 'the explosives'
Nix has lamented the lack of big plays after each of the past two losses. The Broncos have only four plays longer than 30 yards this season, two of which came Sunday -- a 41-yard run by Dobbins and a 52-yard touchdown catch by Courtland Sutton that accounted for 34% of Nix's 153 passing yards.
Teams continue to crowd the short and intermediate areas of the field against Nix. According to ESPN Research, outside of the 52-yarder to Sutton, Nix was 2-of-8 passing for 32 yards on throws of at least 10 air yards Sunday.
"We didn't get the explosives when we needed them," Nix said.
Nix's QBR is now 41.6, 25th in the NFL. And while Payton has praised the second-year quarterback's accuracy, NFL Next Gen Stats has Nix's off-target rate at 17.8% this season, which ranks 24th among the league's starters.
Two missed potential difference-making plays stood out in Sunday's loss. On a third-and-19 in the second quarter, the Broncos called a flea flicker which got receiver Marvin Mims Jr. wide open, only for Nix's pass to sail just beyond Mims' outstretched arms. The Broncos also barely missed a potential go-ahead score late in the fourth quarter, as Nix overthrew an open Sutton on a deep third-and-10 pass up the left sideline.
That was the Broncos' last offensive play. They punted, and the Chargers took over on their own 32-yard line and drove eight plays for the game-winning field goal.
"The route at the end [of the game] is kind of like a seam -- almost a double move, and then, look, the third-and-long flea-flicker was close," Payton said. "So sometimes, if it's a double move, your eyes can betray you a little bit."
The Broncos also haven't made big plays on third down. They are 6-of-22 (27%) on third down in the past two games and had seven possessions Sunday of 10 or fewer yards, including three for 1 yard or negative yards.
"I think our average on third down [Sunday] was third-and-11-plus," Payton said. "That makes it difficult."
Inability to close out
In Indianapolis, Nix threw a fourth-quarter interception in the red zone and the Broncos missed a field goal in the final period. On their last two drives Sunday, in which Denver could have sealed or clinched a victory, it gained 9 and 0 yards, respectively.
But it's the fourth-quarter defensive issues that are vexing the Broncos the most. Bonitto, who finished with two sacks in Week 3, might have summed up the past two weeks the best.
"We got three-and-a-half quarters playing good football and last drive can't get a stop," Bonitto said. "That's frustrating."
The Colts had field goal drives of 81 and 41 yards on the final two possessions in Week 2. The Chargers went 76 yards on seven plays to tie the Week 3 game at 20-20. Then they went 43 yards on eight plays for the game-winning field goal -- all in the final 5:08. Those drives were helped by chunk plays, including a 68-yard run by Colts running back Jonathan Taylor, a 22-yard reception by Chargers running back Omarion Hampton and a 20-yard touchdown catch by Los Angeles wide receiver Keenan Allen. Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert had 113 of his 300 passing yards in the fourth quarter on Sunday.
"You've got to finish," Broncos defensive end John Franklin-Myers said. "We've got to finish those two games."
