Broncos Lose a Heartbreaker to the Bears, Fall to 0-2

The Broncos fell to 0-2 on Sunday with a crushing home loss at the hands of the Bears 16-14. Eddy Piniero hit a 52 yard field goal as time expired to give the Bears the win. Denver took the lead on a Joe Flacco to Emmanuel Sanders two-point conversion try to take 14-13 lead with 32 seconds left. It was a thrilling ending to the game, but this was a tough loss for the Broncos and it could derail their season very early on. Here are my thoughts and observations about the game....

1) The Broncos shut down Mitch Trubisky and the Bears offense for most of the game. They had one drive in which they gave up a touchdown but that came after a reverse by Corradelle Patterson that put the Bears deep into Denver territory. The Broncos defense played well, although they didn't get any sacks or any takeaways. As expected, the Bears defense played well and held Denver to only a field goal until the final drive for the Broncos.

2) Joe Flacco played pretty well. He threw a bad pick with about four minutes to go in the game deep in Chicago territory down 13-6, but he did lead Denver down the field late in the game and converted a few 4th downs to keep the drive alive. He hit Sanders for the touchdown to make it 13-12 and then hit Sanders again for the two-pointer to make it 14-13. Flacco wasn't the problem on Sunday.

3) Garrett Bolles continues to kill the Broncos with the holding penalties. His penalties negated some big plays and it bogged down the offense for the second and third quarter. It is at the point where Bolles should be benched, and it looks like he is not going to have a future in Denver.

4) This game was pretty mundane throughout but the 4th quarter was pretty wild. Denver was down 13-3 but rallied to make it 13-6, then Flacco hit Sanders for the touchdown. Vic Fangio signaled to go for two, but a delay of game knocked the Broncos back and they settled for the extra point. Brandon McManus missed it wide, but the Bears were offside. Denver then took the penalty and decided to go for two again. Flacco hit Sanders and the Broncos took an improbable 14-13 with only 32 seconds left. At that point, I was feeling pretty good as a Broncos fan but the game turned rather quickly.

5) Bradley Chubb's roughing the passer on Trubisky was a really, really bad call. He hit him as he was throwing it. It was so bad, and it gave the Bears life, 15 yards, and a first down. Trubisky then hit a big throw down the middle and the Bears got a timeout with one second left to set up the 52 yard field goal. I think the timeout was generous by the referees, and I wished it was at least reviewed by the booth but it wasn't. In any event, how the hell did that receiver get so wide open down the middle of the field like that? Where was Von Miller and Chubb on that play?

6) This was about as brutal of a loss as you can have for a team, and now the Broncos find themselves at 0-2 for the first time since 1999. They also lost their home opener for the first time since 2011. It is a shame because this could have been one of those wins that you look back on as a game that propelled your season, but now it is a loss that could really put this team into a tailspin. The Broncos are now faced with the task of heading to Green Bay to take on the 2-0 Packers in Lambeau Field. I feel like this team can come back from 0-2 and have a good season, but 0-3 would be too much to ask.