5 takeaways from Broncos' 24-15 preseason loss to Niners

What did we learn about the Broncos in Monday night's loss to the Niners?

After spending a couple of days over the weekend holding joint practices with the San Francisco 49ers, the Denver Broncos struggled to come to form on Monday Night Football in front of a national audience. 

Denver, who finally got to debut for their home crowd for the first time in 2019, left a lot of quality opportunities on the field, falling to the Niners 24-15.

Despite starting the game on the right note by creating an early turnover with the first-team defense on the field, the Broncos got bullied by a more physical Niners team, especially in the trenches.

The Niners scored 21 unanswered points in the second half, led by a rushing attack that was gaining chunk yardage at will.

Offensively, Denver had a couple of drives move the ball down the field, but failed to reach the end zone until late in the fourth quarter when third-string QB Kevin Hogan scampered for a 24-yard touchdown run.

With a 1-2 record following their first three preseason contests, there are a lot of issues that need to be addressed if the Broncos want to compete for a playoff spot in 2019. It wasn't all bad on Monday night, but it was far from great. 

What did we learn? Here are my immediate takeaways.

Emmanuel Sanders returns to form

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If there were any questions about the health of Emmanuel Sanders' status coming off of multiple off-season ankle surgeries, they should all but be assuaged.

Sanders was heavily incorporated in the offense early in Monday's game plan, including multiple targets in the passing game and a designed end-around that Sanders took for 19 yards on the first offensive possession. 

While he might not look as explosive this early in his recovery, he still showed the same open field elusiveness that he has displayed in seasons past. His return to form is an extreme positive for the Broncos offense, especially seeing rookie TE Noah Fant get dinged up with an ankle injury.

Shelby Harris dominant upfront

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Coming into this season as a tendered restricted free agent, Harris is looking for a huge payday. As an up-and-coming interior defender, Harris could see eight figures per year on his next contract, especially if his showing on Monday continues throughout the rest of the season.

Harris knocked down a couple of Jimmy Garoppolo passes in the first quarter, as well as hustling to blow up a screen pass for a minimal gain.

Harris figures to have a rather large role for the Broncos defense this year, especially in the passing game. He also made a couple of nice plays in the running game on Monday, which could jump his value up even that much more.

Left tackle a major issue

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Third-year starter Garett Bolles had a poor showing going against Niners' backup DE Soloman Thomas on Monday night. Plain and simple. And for a player that desperately needs to step up to his lofty draft pedigree, seeing Bolles continue to struggle on an island should bring a lot of concerns to the coaching staff.

Holding penalties have been an issue for Bolles in the past, and another such penalty wiped out a 45-yard Joe Flacco-to-Sanders connection in the first quarter. Bolles also allowed Thomas to blow up a screen play on the offenses first possession.

However, when Bolles took a seat with the rest of the starters, the issues continued to get worse. Swing tackle Elijah Wilkinson struggled mightily Monday night.

Wilkinson appears to have stiff hips and alignment issues, and he allowed multiple pressures against the Niners' depth rushers in the passing game because of so.

Eventually, somebody is going to have to step up on the blindside of the offense. Whether that is Bolles or Wilkinson has yet to be determined.

Offense has red zone issues 

On the first defensive series of the game, second-year CB Isaac Yiadom took advantage of an errant throw from Jimmy Garoppolo for a quick interception, setting the Broncos offense up in plus-territory. However, after Joe Flacco threw an incompletion behind rookie TE Noah Fant, followed by a terribly placed fade route, the Broncos had to settle for a 31-yard Brandon McManus field goal.

Later in the second quarter, rookie QB Drew Lock lead a 13-play, 57-yard drive that also stalled inside the 20-yard line, settling for a 33-yard McManus field goal.

Red zone inefficiencies have killed the Broncos offense so far this preseason. Last week against the Seahawks, the Broncos also had a pair of drives stall in the red area.

It might be a new offensive scheme, but the Broncos have to end their red zone possessions in the endzone. OC Rich Scangarello has some work to do over the next couple of weeks to get it all dialed in.

Broncos run defense looking suspect

Despite the elite showings from Bradley Chubb and Shelby Harris in the passing game in the first quarter, the Broncos' run defense allowed the Niners to run the football at will. San Francisco gashed the Broncos defense for 185 yards on the ground.

On the first play of the game, Niners' RB Tevin Coleman ripped off a 12-yard run, a theme that carried throughout the majority of the game.

There were several first-down plays that saw Niners RBs break into the second level of the Broncos' defense, setting up short-yardage situations and opening up the playbook for Kyle Shanahan offense.

In the second half Denver's depth defenders allowed a 30-yard touchdown run to RB Raheem Mostert and a 45-yard end-around to WR Deebo Samuel, which set up a one-yard touchdown run a couple of plays later.

The Broncos' depth on the defensive line looks incredibly suspect right now, as they got bullied by the Niners all night long. Even the starters got gashed at times.

Vic Fangio's defenses are notoriously great against the run, including last year's Chicago Bears unit that led the league by allowing the fewest rushing yards per game. It's an unacceptable showing, even if it is a preseason game.

Bottom line

There is still a long way to go before fans get to panic mode, but there are a lot of issues that need to be resolved quickly.

The first-team offensive line took a step backwards Monday night, as Bolles and rookie second-round pick Dalton Risner got bullied for the majority of the night.

The Broncos' defense showed vulnerability when shutting down cutback lanes in the running game. Linebackers were out of position at times, allowing open lanes to the secondary.

All three units of the offensive line struggled to open running lanes of their own, which shut down the play-action passing aspect of the Broncos' offensive game.

We still have two games in the preseason to evaluate this Broncos team, but Monday nights performance should be eye-opening on several levels. We'll see what happens moving forward. 

Follow Lance on Twitter @SandersonMHH.