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Denver Broncos general manager John Elway doesn't like the effort he's seen from the team during its current five-game losing streak.        

Speaking to reporters Friday after an event at Sports Authority Field at Mile High, Elway said he thinks the Broncos are "a little bit soft."

"We went 4-0 in the preseason, we started out 3-1, then we get a bye week, and if you exhale in this league, you're in trouble," he said, per ESPN.com's Jeff Legwold. "To be dead honest with you, I think we exhaled, and it's hard to recover from that. So, it's a lesson that hopefully we all learned and prevent it from happening again.''

The Broncos were red-hot when the 2017 NFL season started, scoring a combined 66 points in wins over the Los Angeles Chargers and Dallas Cowboys at home. 

Since its last victory Oct. 1 over the Oakland Raiders, Denver has scored a total of 68 points in the past five games. The once-vaunted defense ranks 29th in points allowed per game (26.6). 

Elway acknowledged that every team will lose games during the season but said "the way that it's gone about, in not being competitive, is probably the thing that concerns me the most."

The Broncos' last two losses against the Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots came by a total score of 92-39. 

With a 3-6 record heading into Week 11's home game against the Cincinnati Bengals, the Broncos are tied with the Chargers for third in the AFC West. Denver hasn't finished a season under .500 since 2010, before it hired Elway as executive vice president of football operations in January 2011.