It wasn't always pretty, and it was far from perfect, but Broncos Country got a small glimmer of what their potential franchise quarterback could look like with a wild and crazy finish to the Denver Broncos' 23-20 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers.

Denver jumped out to a 14-0 lead on Sunday following the first quarter of action, led by a pair of touchdown passes from QB Drew Lock to the dynamic WR Courtland Sutton.

But from there, it was the same old song and dance from this Broncos team.

Denver's offense went back into their typical shell, the defense allowed the Chargers to hang around, and when the game was on the line, Vic Fangio's unit gave up a game-tying field goal with just 0:14 on the clock.

That's when it got wild. Rather than kneeling on the football, offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello dialed up a deep shot to Sutton with hopes of drawing a defensive pass interference penalty to set the Broncos up in field goal position.

And he got it.

Kicker Brandon McManus, who was scorned earlier in the game by not being allowed to attempt what would have been a 60-plus yard field goal right before the half, hammered through a 53-yarder to secure Lock's first career victory.

In a nutshell, a win is a win. But there is so much more to take away from Denver's fourth victory of this troubled season. Let's get started.

Unlocking the Potential of the Offense

Again, it wasn't always pretty and he was nowhere near perfect, but there were several flashes from the performance of Lock on Sunday.

Lock finished 18-of-28 for 134 yards and those two touchdown passes to Sutton in the first quarter, flashing that potential that had the Broncos' front office drooling leading up to the 2019 draft. Lock made several well-placed throws, played within himself, and showed the moxie that has drawn a lot of support from teammates and coaches alike.

Probably the biggest takeaway from Lock's performance was that the moment wasn't too big for him, except for perhaps the first-half play where the young signal-caller airmailed a pass toTE Jeff Heuerman on a bootleg play in the first quarter and his ill-advised interception in the second half.

Lock needs to continue to show improvement and get some help from his playmakers not-named Sutton at times (looking at you, DaeSean Hamilton) over the course of these next four games, but the first look at Lock had me impressed, even if I wanted more.

Coaching Still Letting This Team Down

Regardless of the decision to take a deep shot to set up the game-winning field goal, the Broncos' coaching staff completely failed this team once again.

Up 14-3 in the second quarter and coming off of a muffed punt that the Broncos special teams unit was able to recover, many fans were starving for another Lock-to-Sutton touchdown, or even a sighting from first-round TE Noah Fant in the red zone. Instead, Scangarello called three straight running plays and settled for a field goal. From that moment onwards, the offense was completely invisible for the majority of the game.

The all too uncomfortable feeling of Deja Vu began to settle in as the clock management began to crumble, and Denver's offense puttered along during a two-minute drill. Fangio called off the dogs with a 14-point lead, which allowed the Chargers to storm back and eventually tie the game late in the fourth quarter.

As I said in our live game chat, a very close friend of mine always says that "playing scared with your money won't make you any money". In essence, you have to put your chips on the line if you want to have success and achieve victory.

The Broncos coaching staff, from the top down and starting with Fangio, continues to play scared with their money, and it about got them bitten in the seat of their pants once again.

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Sutton Continues to get Erased Late

In the first quarter, Sutton was living in the Chargers' end zone completely rent-free, even at the expense of the opponent's top CB Casey Hayward. On his first touchdown reception of the afternoon, Sutton made a ridiculous and amazing one-handed catch while going to the ground. The talented wideout followed that up with a well-executed route in the back of the end zone for his second score, continuing his dominant emergence as the Broncos top pass-catcher.

But after the Broncos closed the second half with a 33-yard connection from Lock to Sutton, he completely disappeared from the game plan.

Going back to the debacle that was the performance of the Broncos coaching staff, this is an egregious and mind-blowing reality for this club. Why would you take your top target and key explosive play generator out of the scope of the offense in an attempt to get a running game going against a defense that was selling out to stop that attack throughout the second half?

Why does this team incessantly shoot themselves in the foot by not continuing to go with what was working? Sutton has played at an incredibly high level and is receiving warranted attention in the Pro Bowl voting this year. He deserves much better than what he has received from this staff this far this season.

Time to Stop Calling Harris a 'Shutdown Corner'

I'm going to preface this by saying that I still believe that Chris Harris, Jr. is the top cornerback on the Broncos roster and is a very good player, but he has fallen off drastically this season. He has consistently been beaten in key situations throughout the course of the year.

Once again, Harris relinquished multiple completions in coverage on the day, and was also completely torched on another long touchdown pass late in the game. This time, Harris blew his own man coverage assignment on a crossing route, allowing Chargers WR Keenan Allen to run wide open across the middle of the field for a huge touchdown in the fourth quarter.

If you want to be considered a lockdown cornerback, you have to be shut down your man for 60 minutes. Not for 45. Harris has been quick to thump his chest when things go right and point the finger when they don't.

It's time for him to look at the finger pointing back at him on his own hand. Big-time players make big-time plays in the clutch, and Harris hasn't shown the consistent ability to do so this year, and even dating back to 2018. That's the bitter truth.

Simmons Poised to get Paid in 2020

Speaking of the Broncos secondary, they might have the best tandem of safeties in the entire NFL and leading the way has been the remarkable play of Justin Simmons.

Simmons was admittedly up and down in 2018, but has been an amazing fit in Fangio's defensive scheme. The fourth-year safety hasn't gotten the interception numbers like what Eddie Jackson did in Chicago last season, but he has been great in coverage and even better as a run defender over the course of the past couple of weeks.

Simmons made two huge third-down stops for the Broncos defense, including an open field tackles in the left flat late in the fourth quarter. Another player that is playing at a Pro Bowl level, Simmons has saved his best football for when it matters most for his pocketbook, and he is about to become a wildly rich man following this amazing season.

Fans can only hope that he stays in Denver.

Follow Lance on Twitter @SandersonMHH and @MileHighHuddle.