Broncos achieve ignominious historical feat in 27-16 loss to Packers

It's time to start questioning whether Vic Fangio has a grasp of the situation he's dealing with in the Mile High City.

On the heels of their 27-16 loss to the Green Bay Packers, the Denver Broncos have officially swerved off the track entirely and are careening down a cliff. 

Someone needs to pump the brakes on this trainwreck before it's too late. But maybe it's already too late to stop the inevitable in the Mile High City.

At 0-3, the Broncos appear to be nowhere close to competing for the AFC West, especially in light of the defense's inability to affect the game. Everyone knew going into Week 3's bout at Lambeau Field that the Broncos were yet to notch a sack or a takeaway through two games. 

The hope was that in light of QB Aaron Rodgers' penchant for holding onto the football a beat longer than the NFL average, head coach Vic Fangio would make a few adjustments from an X's and O's perspective that would allow the Broncos' pass rush to finally get home. 

Unfortunately, that's not how it shook out. The Broncos were once again held without a sack and a takeaway. According to Mike Klis, this defense has now distinguished itself as being historically bad. 

The Broncos are now the first NFL team in the last 50 years to post zero sacks and zero takeaways through the first three games of the season. Wrap your heads around that one. 

Fangio was billed as a defensive wizard and his resume backed that up. GM John Elway, when making his decision on who the 17th head coach in Broncos' history would be, said that he wanted a guy who had distinguished himself as being "great" on one side of the ball. 

Fangio had certainly done that, after coordinating the Chicago Bears to the No. 1 defense in the NFL last season. However, lost in the optimism and desperation for a turnaround in Denver, was the fact that it took Fangio four seasons to get that Bears defense into tip-top shape. 

That fact was lost on Broncos Country and local media, however, as the expectation was that Fangio wouldn't be starting from square one in Denver, like he had in Chicago. After all, the Broncos' defense boasted the vaunted likes of Von Miller and Bradley Chubb on the edges and Chris Harris, Jr. at cornerback, to say nothing of the free-agent acquisitions of Kareem Jackson and Bryce Callahan in the secondary. 

Whether it be due to a collection of veterans so conditioned to playing in a one-gapping, man-coverage-based defense, a lack of depth or simply a lack of talent, the fit with Fangio has clearly been skiwampus. That's not to say that Fangio's vision won't work in Denver, but rather, that it's going to take time to take shape. 

Whatever has held the Broncos back from taking off, the bottom line is, we have a failure-to-launch situation on our hands. It's going to take a lot more time to come together than expected. 

That doesn't mean it can't or won't happen in 2019. But the Broncos' 0-3 start would suggest that it isn't likely to come any time soon. 

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At this stage, Fangio has to face the fact that the way he's traditionally liked to call his defense isn't going to work with the personnel limitations the Broncos currently have. 

If a defense doesn't have an elite secondary and good coverage linebackers, you can't consistently rush just three guys on third down and expect to get to the quarterback. It doesn't matter that you have Miller and Chubb when the opposing offensive line has overwhelming strength in numbers — three-to-five. 

In light of the Broncos' struggles to generate pass rush, you'd think Fangio would have adjusted to calling less off-coverage and instead task his cornerbacks with playing more bump-and-run coverage, even if it's going to be a zone call. Pressing the opposing receivers coming off the line disrupts the timing of the routes, and forces the QB to hold onto the ball a few beats longer. 

It all seems so simple from the outside looking in. But it's not. Fangio is dealing with a lot right now in Denver, but such was the responsibility he accepted when he took the head-coaching job. 

The Broncos are grasping for answers right now and the path ahead isn't about to get any easier with the second-toughest strength of schedule in the NFL. 

The good news is, even though the defense was unable to sack Aaron Rodgers or force a turnover, the Broncos were significantly improved on third down, holding the Packers to just two conversions on nine attempts. Since allowing Oakland to convert 10‐of‐14 third downs in Week 1, Denver has allowed its last two opponents to convert only 5‐of‐20 combined third-down attempts. 

The Broncos also stiffened up significantly against the run, allowing just 77 yards on the ground to Green Bay. The return of linebacker Todd Davis had a galvanizing effect on the Broncos' rushing defense but it wasn't enough because the Broncos could not get to Aaron Rodgers. 

These are the silver linings Fangio and company can hang their hat on. But it's not enough. And it won't be, until Fangio adjusts the way he's calling his coverages and pressure packages. 

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.