ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Vic Fangio doesn’t have to speak directly to get his point across. He doesn’t yell or scream, preferring a more reasoned method.
That final second of the game Sunday against the Chicago Bears, for instance. After Bears receiver Allen Robinson caught a 25-yard pass down the middle to convert a fourth-and-15, he immediately went to the ground, rolled into Broncos cornerback Chris Harris Jr. while his head coach Matt Nagy quickly called a timeout.
Too quickly, according to Fangio.
Although the scoreboard read 0:00, the officials gave the Bears one more second – which was used to kick a game-winning, 53-yard field goal by Eddie Pineiro. Fangio said that one second was phantom.
"I don’t think there was," Fangio said Monday at his day-after, 16-14, heartbreaking loss to the Bears. "They’re assuming a lot there and they will tell you that there has to be lag time. He went down at 1 (second) and nothing in life, in the world, happens simultaneously. There is lag time there and they didn’t deem there was lag time there."
Other topics Fangio addressed Monday:
*The questionable roughing-the-passer penalty Broncos’ edge rusher Bradley Chubb received on the first play of the Bears’ final drive, essentially for landing his body on quarterback Mitch Trubisky’s body. The penalty moved the ball from the Bears’ 30 to their 45 – from where the completion to Robinson set up the field goal.
"In regard to officiating, I’m just going to quote (Saints’ head coach) Sean Payton, who’s a much more senior head coach than I am: ‘We can’t control poor officiating or awful calls."
So by essentially deflecting the question about a bad call, Fangio let the officials know they were poor and had many awful calls. Beautiful.
*On left tackle Garett Bolles getting flagged four times for holding (one was declined).
"The unusual part of those, when you hear one guy got called for four holdings, you’re immediate thought is passing," Fangio said. "Three of the four were on running plays. He’s just got to be a little bit more technique-sound. I think he suffers from -- he thinks he’s in good position sometimes and dumps the guy at the end where he thinks it’s a legal block.
"We have to do a better job of explaining that to him. He’s got to do a better job of listening to the explaining, but I think he can."
*Does the injury to right tackle Ja’Wuan James affect decision to move Elijah Wilkinson to left tackle and bench Bolles?
"Not right now, it doesn’t," Fangio said.
James will miss two more games, and possibly more with a left knee sprain. The Broncos backup offensive tackle is Jake Rodgers, a seventh-round draft pick in 2015 who is with his eighth team in five seasons but had never been played in an NFL game until Sunday, when he got in for three special teams plays.
*On if his decision to go for the 2-point conversion and win with 31 seconds left was a calculation that gaining 2 yards on one play has better odds than beating the Bears in overtime.
"It’s part of it, but to me the biggest part is just in your gut," Fangio said. "Analytics is good and stats are good, but you just have to go with your gut sometimes. My gut told me to go for two there. Doesn’t mean I’ll do it the next time.
"The harder one, really, the harder choice for me during the game was going for it on the fourth down in that (fourth quarter) drive because that was around midfield and if we didn’t get it, they make a few yards and can get a field goal, so it would have gone from six to nine."
With 8:47 left and the Bears leading 13-6, the Broncos had fourth-and-2 at the Chicago 45 when quarterback Joe Flacco hit running back Phillip Lindsay for a 4-yard gain.
"That to me was more risky than the 2-point play, albeit if we don’t get the 2-point play we don’t win right then and there."
Fangio then went back to his late 2-point decision and how Jacksonville made the same decision. The Jaguars scored a touchdown with 36 seconds remaining but instead of kicking the extra point that would tie it, 13-13, they went for 2 and the win.
Leonard Fournette was stopped short and Houston won, 13-12.
"It’s no guarantee," Fangio said. "Two-point plays are about 50 percent, somewhere between 48 and 52 percent successful, so it’s really a 50-50 proposition."
*Fangio said linebacker Todd Davis and cornerback Bryce Callahan are on pace to play this Sunday against Green Bay.
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