Vic Fangio Blasts Drew Lock, Broncos' Offense: 'Hard to Say Anything Good'

Contrast Vic Fangio's review of Drew Lock's Week 16 performance with that of Teddy Bridgewater's in Week 13 and a pattern emerges.

The Denver Broncos can safely assume that the playoffs are out of reach now. After dropping three of their last four games, including Sunday's ugly 17-13 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, the Broncos are all but done for the year. 

The only problem with that is, there are two games left to play. Sitting at 7-8 with a road trip to take on the Los Angeles Chargers and a homestand to close out the season against a divisional opponent the Broncos haven't defeated since Week 2 of the 2015 campaign, it's likely this team finishes 7-10. 

Such a record would likely spell doom for head coach Vic Fangio. As he faced the media Sunday following the loss in Vegas, it appeared the light has left Fangio's eyes. 

When asked how he thought Drew Lock played at quarterback, after 15 weeks on ice as backup to Teddy Bridgewater, Fangio couldn't muster up even the hint of a compliment, despite the third-year quarterback completing 68.1% of his passes and not turning the ball over. 

“I would say up and down, it's hard to say anything," Fangio said of Lock's day at Allegiant Stadium. "When you get 158 yards of offense and eight first downs, it's hard to say anything good about the offense.”

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Fangio has hamfistedly exposed his bias regarding the Teddy/Lock dynamic. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it. 

Contrast what Fangio said about Lock post-Vegas with what he said post-Kansas City three weeks ago when the Broncos mustered nine points behind Teddy's two interceptions and 62.2 QB rating. This is how he excused Bridgewater's turnover-riddle performance. 

“One was a tip," Fangio said of Teddy's interceptions. "I'm not sure on the other one that he threw and they caught. I am not sure of the story behind that one. I thought Teddy did a lot of good things, we as a team did not do enough.”

So, when it's Teddy, in an ugly loss wherein he was the chief perpetrator, the quarterback "did a lot of good things" and the "team didn't do enough" — just a couple weeks removed from making excuses for the veteran after his infamous business decision vs. Philadelphia. But when it's Lock, in an ugly loss wherein he protected the ball whilst being constantly harassed and hit by the opponent and had receivers dropping balls left and right, he was "up and down" — making it "hard to say anything good about the offense." 

What did Lock do to get so firmly ensconced in Fangio's crosshairs, or as they say, on his you-know-what-list? Some attribute Fangio's icy and crotchety regard for Lock to the 'mask-gate' fiasco in Week 12 of last year after the young quarterback got busted for not perfectly observing mask discipline in a meeting where one of the attendees was COVID-positive — and then purportedly lied about it when the NFL came sniffing around. 

You recall. The NFL ruled out all four of Denver's quarterbacks and wouldn't budge in rescheduling the team's bout with the New Orleans Saints, leading to an undrafted rookie wideout named Kendall Hinton to play the game from behind center. 

It was embarrassing. It reflected poorly on Fangio. And it would seem the coach has never let it go. 

Whatever the case may be, Lock has to be counting down the seconds until this season ends in hopes of any changes to the coaching staff coming on Black Monday. Lock shoulders his fair share of complicity in Denver's impotent and soft offensive performance in Vegas, but he's deserving of more respect than Fangio's pathetic pittance. 

The young quarterback isn't going to let Fangio harsh his vibe, regardless of whether the Broncos opt recklessly to put the twice-concussed Bridgewater back on the field in what amounts to a lame-duck final two games. 

“I’m just going to be me," Lock said on Sunday night. "I like to think I bring a lot of energy to the team, to the locker room and to the huddle. I’m going to get these guys fired up by just, you know, being who I am. We’re going to put the ball in the air. We’re going to get these guys involved. We’re going to run the ball better next week, we’re just going to have good spirits about it and keep playing because... professionally, this is our job and to go out there and to not give anything but 100 percent would be failing yourself and failing the team around you."

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