5 Biggest Takeaways from Denver Broncos' Week 11 Win over the Chicago Bears
The Denver Broncos were able to travel to Chicago and beat the Bears 17-15 on Sunday. The win was the team’s first in the last two weeks after dropping games to the Colts and Chiefs.
The Broncos featured fourth-year pro Brock Osweiler as their starter, and the young quarterback showed plenty of confidence in his first career start.
After the game, Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak expressed his confidence in Osweiler.
“He did a really good job. We didn’t protect him very good in the first half, I had to take his lumps in a couple of situations but kept his composure and would come back and make the next play. He did his job, did a heck of a job and his team played well around him and that’s the most important thing. Very proud of him, he was ready to go.”
Here are the five biggest takeaways from the Broncos’ Week 11 win over the Bears.
Brock Osweiler Shines in Debut
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Broncos starting quarterback Brock Osweiler had a good birthday on Sunday. Turning 25 years old, Osweiler led the Broncos to a win over the Bears in the first start of his pro career.
He completed 20 of 27 passes for 250 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions against the Bears. He posted the highest completion percentage (74.1) in team history, and his 250 yards and 127.1 quarterback rating rank second in team history for a player making their first start with the Broncos.
In his Broncos debut (versus the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2012), Peyton Manning had 253 passing yards and a 129.2 passer rating. By comparison, Osweiler did a fantastic job.
The young quarterback’s confidence was evident as he calmly went through the game.
“I was comfortable from the very first snap. If anything, I think I was more anxious last night than anything. I was just excited and ready to go play football. You’re right, last night did help a lot. Getting to go out there and play against a great Kansas City defense and build some relationships with some of our offensive starters. I think last week was huge.”
The starter for the upcoming game against the New England Patriots is unclear at this moment. Kubiak would not reveal anything about his decision after the Bears game.
“I knew that [question] was coming. Here’s the deal—we got healthier here today. We’ve got some guys on this team that we’re trying to get healthy, so that’s important. And we won our eighth game. So we’re going to focus on winning today and enjoy winning and we’ll go back to work next week.”
Osweiler certainly deserves another start with the way that he played on Sunday.
Ronnie Hillman Tops 100 Yards
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With Osweiler under center, the Broncos were able to run the ball more effectively on Sunday. The Broncos ran the ball 34 times on snaps with Osweiler under center. That mark was 16 more times than the team’s previous single-game season high.
Ronnie Hillman was able to run tough for 102 yards on 21 carries. His long carry was 15 yards on the day, and Hillman had to earn yards with steady consistency.
This was Hillman’s third 100-yard rushing performance of the season, but it was his first as the team’s starter.
With Osweiler at the controls, Hillman was able to take advantage of cutback lanes that didn’t show up with Manning at quarterback. Defenders have to respect Osweiler’s ability to scramble, and that will freeze players enough for a speedy back like Hillman to get to the second level of the defense quickly.
The Broncos were able to run for a season-high 170 yards against the Bears. They did all this despite shuffling around the five players on the offensive line throughout the game.
Kubiak talked about the rotation after the game.
“We played a little bit more with them. Max (Garcia) still played some, but we think Ryan’s (Harris) been playing a little better. We still have some things we have to get better at. We had some big penalties in the game—I can think of us jumping offside at 3rd-and-1 and some things going on. Busted a couple protections but if we run the ball that way, then we are going to give ourselves an excellent chance. Mistakes aside that we have to go correct, that fact that we ran it all day is a good thing.”
Vernon Davis Breaks Out
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Osweiler’s favorite target on Sunday was tight end Vernon Davis. The veteran tight end caught a team-best six catches for 68 yards against the Bears. He was targeted six times by Osweiler, and Davis did not let a pass hit the ground.
Osweiler completed 15 of 18 passes for 207 yards and two touchdowns to receivers between the painted numbers, and that’s where Davis was able to do most of the damage.
Entering the game, the Broncos had not used Davis that much. In his previous two games with the Broncos, Davis only had five targets and two catches for 19 yards.
It was clear from the outset that Osweiler had the intention of using the tight ends early and often. In addition to what Davis did, Owen Daniels had a team-high 69 receiving yards against the Bears (on four catches).
Using those targets over the middle of the field helped to calm Osweiler.
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Cody Latimer Shows off Connection with Osweiler
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It’s been clear from watching Osweiler in practice that he’s got a strong connection with second-year pro Cody Latimer. That connection showed up quickly last week against the Chiefs.
Latimer had two targets on the season (with no catches) when Osweiler took over for an injured and ineffective Manning last week. In less than two quarters, Latimer had five more targets, three catches and 30 receiving yards with Osweiler tossing him the rock.
It’s no surprise that their connection carried over to this week.
With 11 minutes and 42 seconds left in the game, Latimer caught the first touchdown catch of his career. He finished the game with two catches for 22 yards. Osweiler did a fine job of looking off the defense, then finding Latimer facing him in the end zone. The young quarterback used his rocket arm to zip the pass into his trusted receiver’s hands before the defense could break up the scoring play.
Latimer seemed to be out of sync with Manning, but he’s definitely locked in with Osweiler.
Emmanuel Sanders missed this game due to injury, and that opened the door for Latimer to see more time than he had previously this year. Even when Sanders comes back, Latimer has done enough to get more playing time. He’s got arguably the strongest connection with Osweiler of any player on the roster.
So long as Osweiler is the starter, Latimer should be given an opportunity to produce.
Defense Still Heavily Penalized
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The Broncos defense might be the best in the league, but it sure does get an awful lot of penalties—and things were no different against the Bears on Sunday.
As a team, the Broncos were penalized eight times for a whopping 118 yards. It’s interesting to note that the Bears were not called for a single penalty against the Broncos.
Kubiak spoke honestly about the defense’s performance after the game.
“We gave up some yards today, we gave up some plays, but we kept finding a way to make a big play. We just kept battling. We made big plays defensively, but we have to continue to cut down the penalties that obviously hurt us, but we make the biggest play you can make at the end.”
Personal-foul penalties have become commonplace for strong safety T.J. Ward. He’s a playmaker who meets the ball-carrier with natural violence, but there are times when he needs to play with better discipline.
Cornerback Aqib Talib is a physical player, but there are times when he’ll get too grabby and get called for pass interference.
These two defenders are stars, but they also need to dial their penalties back in order to help their team.
The Broncos arguably have the league’s best defense. They need to make sure there are no penalties that cost them a game. In order to play up to their enormous potential, the Broncos have to get better at playing with complete composure.
All quotes and injury/practice observations obtained firsthand. Record/statistical information provided via the Broncos media department unless otherwise noted. Advanced stats via ESPN's employees-only database.
Contract and salary-cap information provided by Spotrac. Transaction history provided by Pro Sports Transactions.
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