After nine games of dealing with the most turnover-prone quarterback in the NFL, the Denver Broncos’ dominant defense finally got what they were looking for during Sunday’s 17-15 win over the Chicago Bears.
Backup Brock Osweiler, who started in place of an injured Peyton Manning, got through four quarters without giving away the football.
“If Brock has no turnovers, that’s the only thing I really need to look at. That’s a great game for him,” cornerback Chris Harris said, via Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post. “That’s all you have to do in this offense: Don’t turn it over. If you have to punt it, that’s great. It puts our defense on the field, and that’s what we want.”
The Broncos scored just 17 points, but that was enough to win a game on the road against John Fox, Denver’s former head coach. Osweiler completed 20 of 27 passes for 250 yards and two touchdowns, including a strike to receiver Cody Latimer in the fourth quarter that provided the winning points.
Most importantly, Osweiler had no turnovers. The Bears started only one drive in favorable field position, which came after Denver had to punt from deep inside its own territory. On this day, there would be no giveaways providing scoring opportunities; no mistakes putting the Broncos defense in tough positions.
Denver remains tough to score on when offenses have to traverse the whole field.
The status of Manning moving forward is unclear. He’s an old, hurt quarterback, but he’s also the most productive player at the position of all-time. There’s a better-than-decent chance the Broncos will go back to him once he feels physically ready to play.
But head coach Gary Kubiak can’t overlook how nicely everything fell into place on Sunday in Chicago.
His quarterback played safe and conservative. The Broncos running game came alive, using 33 attempts for 161 yards from Ronnie Hillman and C.J. Anderson to power the offense. The Denver defense did the rest, with two takeaways and a late stand on Chicago’s two-point attempt to seal the win.
The Broncos once needed Manning to stand on his head and win games with his right arm. Denver now requires the quarterback position to simply not lose the contest. Osweiler is the best man for the job. Just ask his defense.