The Denver Broncos have another big challenge coming against the San Francisco 49ers.
The Denver Broncos continue to run their early schedule gauntlet as they head west to face the undefeated San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
The Broncos are 2-1 coming in, but they mostly haven’t looked like a winning team on the way to that record. They pulled a no-show against the Kansas City Chiefs in their Monday night season opener, then came from behind to post narrow wins over the Jacksonville Jaguars and Los Angeles Rams at home.
This one’s on the road, though, which might make it a different animal, especially since the Broncos have specialized in playing awful first halves so far. It almost cost them in their last game against the Rams, as the Broncos spotted LA a 16-0 lead at the half, then game back to tie the game in the third quarter and win the track meet game that broke out in the fourth quarter.
The 49ers have been on an opposite path. They dominated the Rams in their season opener in Australia, then did the same thing against the Miami Dolphins back home in Week 2. They did suffer from a 2-0 malaise against the Arizona Cardinals last week, however, as they let Arizona back in the game after being up 17-6 at the half and wound up having to eke out a 36-30 win.
That sounds like a familiar formula in Denver, and the big challenge will be mounting a pass rush against quarterback Brock Purdy, who hasn’t been sacked to date. It’ll be a tall task, though, as the Broncos linebackers haven’t looked anywhere close to being the formidable unit that helped Denver come close to breaking the NFL record for sacks last year.
Play calling has been the big issues for the Broncos so far, with new coordinator Davis Webb still trying to figure it out. He’s been trying to do it with one arm tied behind his back, though, as Denver still hasn’t had anything remotely resembling a real running game.
But Webb did stick with the run game to some extent, and the Broncos will probably do that to try to slow down the 49ers offense, which is averaging over 30 points a game despite being banged up.
Denver’s offensive strategy so far seems to be waiting for a Bo Nix highlight reel to break out, but that’s not exactly a winning formula, so the Broncos will be hoping to get more from their quarterback as the Niners try to avoid a 3-0 malaise.
