The Denver Broncos lost to the San Francisco 49ers in Week 4 of the 2026 NFL Season. Across the board, it was an ugly game, and many of the same issues were present in this one. Through four games, the Broncos are somehow 2-2 despite playing some sloppy football thus far.
With Week 5's game being against the Los Angeles Chargers, you'd like to think that the team can bounceback, even with the injuries this team endured in Week 4.
Now that Week 4 is over, let's dive into our immediate takeaways from a very ugly and disappointing loss.
Denver Broncos instant takeaways following brutal loss to the 49ers
Broncos lose 3 key starters during the game due to injury
The Broncos saw all of Patrick Surtain II, Riley Moss, and Pat Bryant leave the game with injuries. None of them returned. Surtain needed to be helped off the field by two trainers. It was a non-contact ankle injury.
Moss suffered a rib injury, but it's not super clear when that happened, and Bryant's ankle got twisted up on a big gain, and he had to be carted off. All of a sudden, if these three players are needing to miss time, the depth at cornerback and wide receiver will be tested big-time.
For a team that was relatively healthy thus far, losing Surtain, Moss, and Bryant is just flat-out brutal - and that's that.
Offense again was virtually non-existent in the first half
The offense was bad for most of the game save for the touchdown drive in the second half, but the unit was non-existent in the first half, once again. The same issues keep happening week over week, and you just have to wonder if this is now turning into a play-calling issue at this point...?
The run game just can't get going, and the Broncos refusal to get the ball down the field in the early part of the same has greatly hurt what this team can accomplish on offense. While I don't think the Broncos are at all considering demoting Davis Webb to a non-playcalling offensive coordinator, the first four weeks of the season haven't exactly shut the door on the questions we continue to have about this unit.
RJ Harvey might be the Broncos best running back
RJ Harvey runs hard. Despite being 5-8 and barely over 200 pounds, Harvey is tough to bring down. Harvey totaled 25 yards on seven carries and caught 10 passes for 68 yards. He also had two kick returns for a healthy 64 yards.
If it's possible to have an MVP in a loss, it belongs to Harvey. It's not a stretch to think that Harvey needs to be the lead back for this team, as J.K. Dobbins has looked like a shell of his former self.
Harvey's Week 4 performance, which totaled over 100 all-purpose yards, is an encouraging sign that the team can try and build on in the coming weeks.
Defense has still struggled to generate consistent pressure
The Broncos defense simply misses John Franklin-Myers and Jonathon Cooper. This team has failed to generate pressure consistently this year, as they failed to sack Brock Purdy and just don't have that bite along the defensive front from a rushing standpoint that they had last year and the year prior.
Denver's linebackers are also non-existent at getting pressure, too. The defensive front has just not looked anything like they have the past two seasons, and the rush was the identity of this Broncos team. Without the identity present, the Broncos aren't going to win a ton of games this year. It's really that simple.
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