Fast start: A 17-point first half leads to Fangio’s first win.
Coach Fangio gets first win behind strong defensive effort Lindsay’s fourth 100-yard game puts away Los Angeles
The plan all along, once the Broncos f inally CA RSON, CA LIF.» won a game, was for general manager John Elway to present coach Vic Fangio with the game ball in the locker room.
And Elway was finally able to carry it out moments after the Broncos’ 20-13 win over the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday. Except, true to his form, Fangio passed on the credit literally and verbally.
Literally. Fangio doesn’t need a game ball.
“I did (get the game ball), but I gave it away,” Fangio said. “(Inside linebacker Alexander Johnson) was standing next to me, so I gave it to him.”
And verbally. Fangio was not going to take a victory lap for himself.
“The way I look at it, it’s the first win for the 2019 Broncos,” he said. “Obviously, the next few days will be better than the few days after the last few games for me and everybody else. I’m just really happy for this team. I know the results don’t show it and results can obscure a lot of things, justifiably so, but they’ve done everything we’ve asked of them.”
What Fangio asked the Broncos during their winless start, but particularly last week following their disheartening collapse against the Jacksonville Jaguars, was to keep working, keep fighting, keep grinding and keep having faith. Easy to say, but tougher to execute, considering the 0-4 start.
But thanks to a 17-point first half by the offense and a defense that kept the Chargers out of the end zone, Fangio was able to pass out a game ball and heap winning praise on his roster.
“That’s Coach Fangio, 100 percent, to deflect all the light (on) his players,” out
side linebacker Von Miller said.
The Broncos avoided the first 0-5 start in franchise history, broke an eight-game losing streak dating to last December and won only their second AFC West road game in 11 tries (both at the Chargers’ temporary home) since the start of 2016.
“It was emotional (in the locker room),” inside linebacker Todd Davis said. “Like Elway said, it took a little longer for (Fangio) to get his first win than we wanted. But it still felt great.”
Great was the Broncos’ defense, which broke a four-game takeaway drought with a forced fumble by safety Kareem Jackson (best player on the field) sandwiched by interceptions from safety Justin Simmons and Johnson.
Great was the Broncos’ firsthalf offense, which sprinted to a 17-0 lead thanks to touchdowns by running back Phillip Lindsay (four-yard rush) and receiver Courtland Sutton (70-yard catch) and a 40-yard Brandon McManus field goal.
And great for the Broncos was the end result.
But it wasn’t easy. It will never be for a team that sometimes can’t get out of its own way via penalties and mental/physical mistakes and still makes headscratching plays on special teams.
A team that couldn’t close out Chicago in Week 2 and Jacksonville in Week 4, losing as time expired, barely closed out the Chargers.
“I think ‘hang on,’ is a better term than ‘finish,’ ” Fangio said in his description of the game. “We finished, but it was painful.”
Painful would have been allowing the Chargers to steal the Trailing by 17 points, they scored on a 68-yard punt return by Desmond King and had one fourth-quarter possession while trailing by seven points. But the Chargers punted before placekicker Brandon McManus iced the game with a 46-yard field goal.
Had the Broncos rolled to a convincing win, the postgame locker room vibe would have been excitement. But was it relief instead?
“It’s nice to get the first win, but we have a long way to go and we need a lot more wins,” nose tackle Shelby Harris said. “You can say it’s relief, I guess.”
Said defensive end Derek Wolfe: “This is the first step to getting on track to get more wins. I’m not going to be excited about one win.”
The first step only creates the opportunity for a second step, which is next Sunday against Tennessee. The first step only erases the stigma of being one of the NFL’s lone remaining winless teams. And the first step, at least for one week, makes all the work worth it.
But as Harris and Wolfe pointed out, the Broncos still have an uphill climb to make things interesting. They have to find consistency on offense, discover who can play cornerback besides Chris Harris and reexamine the special teams.
Still a flawed team? For sure. But they continue to provide glimpses of how Fangio wants the Broncos to play.
“When you have a lot of young guys and you have some new faces, it’s big to get these wins and start to feel some juice,” quarterback Joe Flacco said. “We got the first one.”