DENVER -- The Denver Broncos have just more than $53 million in salary-cap charges on injured reserve. They will play two cornerbacks signed from the practice squads of other teams to close out the season. They have now missed the playoffs five consecutive years.
Even with all of that swirling around him, quarterback Drew Lock still remains the team's central focus with two games remaining -- Sunday at the Los Angeles Chargers and Jan. 3 against the Las Vegas Raiders.
"We want to put ourselves in a position to win a game," Lock said about moving forward following Saturday's 48-19 blowout loss to the Buffalo Bills.
Lock completed 20 of 32 passes for 132 yards with a touchdown in what was largely a four-quarter flex for the playoff-bound Bills. It was the fewest passing yards in any of his 16 career starts -- save Week 4 in Pittsburgh when he left in the first quarter with a right shoulder injury.
The discussions about where Lock fits into the plan for 2021 will happen in the weeks to come and are largely for entertainment purposes until John Elway publicly weighs in at season's end. But turnovers will top the not-to-do list in Lock's final two games.
He had one turnover against the Bills, but it was a game-changer. His third-quarter fumble was returned for a touchdown just 17 seconds after the Bills had scored a touchdown. In those 17 seconds a 21-13 Bills lead went to 35-13 and officially slammed the door on the Broncos' hopes of finishing the season at .500.
The Broncos' offense gained all of 91 yards in the second half Saturday, Lock completed eight passes for 33 yards after halftime with only two of those completions -- for 3 yards -- coming during the third quarter team-wide meltdown.
"I thought in the first half it was pretty good," said Broncos coach Vic Fangio. "We had been moving the ball, we had some first downs, we had a chance for 17 points there which would have been a nip-and-tuck game. In the second half we just couldn't get anything going until late and we didn't help him with the rest of the team either ... it was a total team failure there in the second half."
"It was definitely a bad day, it was not a good day for us," Lock said. "I wouldn't say any of us are feeling in a way we're taking a step back, but that was not a good day for us by any means and our job is to figure out why it wasn't."
Lock has turned the ball over 16 times (13 interceptions, three lost fumbles), ranking near the bottom of the league with Week 15 nearly finished.
Lock can't control how the Broncos will deal with four defensive starters on injured reserve or that a fifth defensive starter (A.J. Bouye) is suspended. That's not his department, neither are the repeated stumbles on special teams.
But turnovers, intensity, preparation are all on him over the final two weeks. He needs to close strong the way he did last season. It starts on Sunday against the Chargers and their rookie quarterback Justin Herbert.
"If you can't put streaks together it means you're losing," Lock said. "It's frustrating, it would be great to be able to do that ... we've got to leave ourselves a chance to win the game."
Safety Justin Simmons might have said it best regarding the team's -- and in some ways Lock's -- troubles this season.
"Ultimately no one cares, there is no asterisk next to our record saying 'injury and COVID-19' you know? It just says win or losses and that's all anyone cares about."