INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson added another sore Monday night to an already painful start to his first season with the team when he sustained a hamstring injury in the fourth quarter of Denver’s 19-16 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on SoFi -stadium.
“I scrambled a bit to move on to one. I had to throw it out. It did me pretty well in the fourth quarter,” Wilson said. “I was just trying to play through it… I was just trying to find a way to win the game.”
Wilson received post-match treatment and will be further evaluated on Tuesday morning. From Monday evening it was expected that he would also be taken for an MRI examination.
Wilson’s injury comes amid the Broncos’ ongoing battle for attack; Denver (2-4) has scored 16 or fewer runs in five of his six games and had minus-9 net passing yards in the second half against the Chargers.
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Wilson finished Monday’s game 15-of-28, passing for 188 yards left with a touchdown, but 173 of those passing yards and the touchdown came in the first half. He was 3-for-11 for 15 yards in the second half.
Wilson had been treated for a partial muscle tear in his right shoulder in the wake of Denver’s Week 4 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders on October 2. The Broncos had 11 days between their loss on Thursday night against the Indianapolis Colts on October 6 and Monday’s defeat.
“The shoulder did well, but listen, all that matters is that we win,” Wilson said. “I’m not going to cover it up, all that matters is that we win … there is no excuse for it, we have to find a way.”
The Broncos traded five draft picks, including two first-round picks and two second-round picks, as well as three players to the Seattle Seahawks to take over Wilson. Just before the start of the season, they signed Wilson to a five-year, $245 million contract extension.
But the Broncos are now one of the league’s lowest-scoring teams, at or near the bottom of red zone offense, goal-to-go situations and third-down conversions.
“This is very disappointing,” Broncos coach Nathaniel Hackett said Monday night. “We need to have a lot more urgency across the board – it starts with me as a coach, then all the other coaches and then the players. Players just need to be more urgent. … We need to perform at a higher level, and we need to come up with some better actions.”
Wilson has now thrown less than 220 yards in three of the Broncos’ six games, and his only attempt at 300 yards was his day of 340 yards in the season-opening defeat in Seattle. Overall, the Broncos have only scored five points in the third quarter, and two of those points came through a safety through the defense in Week 2 against Houston.
On Monday, the Broncos had only one possession in the third quarter.
In overtime, the Broncos’ offense led off with a three-and-out, and after their defense stopped the Chargers from getting the ball back at their own 31-yard line, Denver responded with another three-and-out. Wilson threw blemishes on his only two overtime passes, both on third-down plays.
“We could have done it cleaner in the second half,” Wilson said. “The reality is it’s just not good enough. We have to be better, we have to play sharper, we have to find ways to make plays, we have to find ways to get touchdowns. It felt like we should have won that game. ”