Drew Lock Drops Curtain on Emotional Halftime Locker Room Speech in Week 8

The Denver Broncos overcame the odds and a 21-point third-quarter deficit to defeat the Los Angeles Chargers 31-30 in Week 8. As home underdogs in consecutive games, the early returns at Empower Field at Mile High were not good.

Embattled quarterback Drew Lock presided over yet another impotent stink-fest in the first half, with the Broncos offense producing more three-and-outs than first downs. Denver entered the half with just three points, two first downs, and 60 yards of total offense, while the Chargers romped with back-to-back touchdown drives to end the second quarter.

Down 21-3 at the half, things looked grim for the Broncos. Many fans were calling for Lock to be benched, with even Denver's most famous insider advocating for head coach Vic Fangio to capitulate and insert backup Brett Rypien at the first sign of struggle in the third frame.

All eyes have to be on Vic Fangio and whether he will make QB switch to Brett Rypien. I say he gives Lock one series in second half. Do or die. But Broncos have just 62 yards in total offense in first half. Unacceptable. #9sports
— Mike Klis (@mikeklis) November 1, 2020

With emotions running high in disappointment, the Broncos hit the locker room at half time, yelling, screaming, and pointing the finger. As a young leader of this team, Lock took it upon himself to stand up and address his teammates, taking ownership of his play and accountability for the offense.

Coming out of the half, Fangio stuck with Lock, and while Justin Herbert put another touchdown on the board to open the third quarter, the Broncos continued to struggle in neutral. The dam finally broke, as running back Phillip Lindsay broke off a 55-yard touchdown midway through the third quarter, giving the Broncos a spark.

Lock still took some time getting in a groove, but as the Broncos' defense stiffened, the offense would go on a bender. Lock would lead three additional touchdown drives, all three of which culminated with scores off his right arm. With the clock at 0:00 and the Broncos down 30-24 on the Chargers' 1-yard line, Lock rolled right and hit rookie wideout KJ Hamler for the tying touchdown.

Brandon McManus' extra point would complete the comeback as Lock and the Broncos shocked the world, including Broncos Country, with the 31-30 win. After the game, Lock let fans into his gut-check moment in the Broncos' locker room at halftime.

"It was kind of déjà vu coming into that locker room again—all the yelling and screaming, offense isn’t playing well, blah blah blah," Lock recounted post-game. "I just got up in front of the offense and said, ‘Listen, it’s so easy for us to come in here and scream and yell and get mad and talk about what we’re doing bad. But we just need to man up and when the plays come our way, we need to make them, myself included. I’m not yelling at ya’ll, I’m honestly talking to myself right now—screaming at myself,’ and that’s exactly what we went out and did."

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Indeed, the Broncos' offense carried their fair share of the water in the second half, with Lock stepping up, along with Lindsay, Jerry Jeudy, DaeSean Hamilton, Noah Fant, Albert Okweugbunam, and Melvin Gordon. The offensive line, which had been floundering without position coach Mike Munchak on the sideline, galvanized and did a much better job of opening up holes on the ground and protecting Lock.

Lock also did a better job of trusting his O-line and it paid dividends for the offense, which put up 28 points and 291 second-half yards. What's the lesson to extract?

"There’s not going to be someone that makes me more mad than me being mad at myself, it will always be that way," Lock said post-game. "But I came in the locker room and when I gave that talk it all kind of just flushed out of me. Like, ‘Alright. I vocalized it. Like a therapy session, I said it and it’s good to go now.’ It’s been fun to keep this team together and we’ve got to keep doing it. We’ve got a good team that’s firing off right now coming up next week, so, we’ll just keep getting better.”

Lock's Week 2 injury that led to him missing two games and about a month of real time interrupted what modest momentum he and offensive coordinator Pat Shumur had built up in a severely truncated offseason with no preseason reps to hang their hat on and a limited training camp. With more time on task, it's not outside the bounds of the plausible to expect Lock and Shurmur to continue to gel and find a way to make some hay while the sun is shining.

Sitting at 3-4 now, the sun is still very much shining on the Broncos. Winning three of their last four games, after starting 0-3, the Broncos have fought their way back into the AFC conversation, though there's still a long row left to hoe.

"Maybe people had opinions on us based on six games with three different quarterbacks, multiple O-lines, guys on defense getting knocked out," Lock said. "I just think people love to make opinions and jump to them quick and I hope that we can keep proving them wrong.”

For just the fifth time in team history, the Broncos overcame a 21-point deficit to emerge victorious. Just two weeks ago, the Broncos overcame a nine-point spread to upset the New England Patriots with Lock becoming the youngest QB to ever win at Gillette Stadium.

Trust the process.

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.