DENVER — Mom’s right, you know.

She’s right that nothing good happens after midnight. She’s right that idle hands are the devil’s workshop. She’s right that I shouldn’t have been four-wheeling that night in the Rampart Range when I rolled my truck.

Miss that truck. But she was right.

And Mama Lock was right when she defended her son, Broncos quarterback Drew Lock, whose improper mask usage has been turned into one of the Seven Deadly Sins. Off with his head!

Gimme a friggin’ break.

“They let their guard down. They did not wear their masks the entire time they were in their socially distanced environment. It’s unfortunate — not damning,” tweeted Mrs. Laura Lock, who surely will be there Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium when the Broncos play in the family’s hometown, Kansas City.

Dude screwed up, no doubt about it, and cost the Broncos a shot at beating the Saints — if you’re of the belief a 3-7 Broncos team somehow beats the NFC’s top seed. His mask-less mug on a surveillance video allowed the NFL to make an example of the Broncos. He blew it.

But get a grip, people. At some point a sense of perspective has to join the conversation. Far as I can tell, Drew Lock hasn’t been arrested, didn’t rob Wells Fargo, didn’t light a church on fire, didn’t get drunk and drive 71 mph in a 35. Broncos running back Melvin Gordon’s DUI arrest in October caught roughly 1/1,000th the heat of Lock’s mistake. You tell me. Which is really worse?

And it was a mistake. Everyone should wear a mask in public, even if the Colorado governor telling you how to stay healthy caught the virus, and the Denver mayor telling you to stay home caught a flight for Thanksgiving. Enough folks are hurting that a mask is the least we can do.

I could do without Broncos coach Vic Fangio, who was fined for not properly wearing a mask, scolding Lock for not wearing a mask: “I was disappointed on a couple levels. That our quarterbacks put us in this position and that our quarterbacks put the league in this position.”

People who don’t follow the rules don’t get to tell others to follow the rules. That’s the rule.

And the low point of this Broncos’ season was not the blowout loss to the Chiefs, the blowout loss to the Raiders, or even the debacle vs. the Saints caused by the Broncos quarterbacks. It was Broncos leadership, if it can be called that, rolling over for a ridiculous NFL policy that makes it so an outbreak of COVID-19 positive tests is actually more advantageous than the Broncos’ one positive test. Seriously, that’s a thing: the Baltimore Ravens had their game postponed several times when over 20 players were placed on the COVID-19 list. The Broncos would’ve been better off with more positive tests. How does that make sense?

Last Sunday’s game was a dangerous situation, playing a big, mean, fast Saints defense without a real quarterback. And Broncos leadership didn’t stand up and stick up for its guys. Bad business.

Lock hasn’t been good so far as a quarterback, but he’s Patrick Mahomes when it comes to media obligations. He went on and on about his appreciation and admiration for quarterback fill-in Kendall Hinton, and notice how he slides in the singular point that should matter here: “What else can you ask him to do? He (Hinton) went out there and played his butt off. I saw him the next morning when I’m sitting in my car waiting to get my rapid COVID test results back that were negative.”

Subtle. Lock’s tests have been negative for over 120 straight days. That’s the guy you make an example of?

Hey, nobody’s going to mistake me for a Drew Lock apologist. I’m about the only one around these hills who didn’t anoint him a mix of John Elway and Jesus after a 4-1 finish in 2019. Shoot, after the struggles of Lock and Shane Ray, if Michael Porter Jr. doesn’t pan out, it’s time to implement a ban of former Mizzou athletes with Denver’s pro sports teams.

Thing is, if Lock had been standing in line at Chipotle without a mask, or hitting up Best Buy on Black Friday without a mask, or hanging out with COVID-positive Gov. Jared Polis without a mask, sure, blast the guy. Give him hell.

But when a man who continuously tests negative draws more blowback than a team with an enormous outbreak, that’s just moral grandstanding. That’s saying obedience is more important than actually stopping a virus, and there’s a solid chunk of the population that’s starting to believe that’s what’s going on here.

“As a parent, an educator, a friend, a co-worker, a boss — using people to make an example of a situation is wrong,” Laura Lock wrote. “The NFL used one of their own as an example. This is where the shame is.”

Sorry, not sorry. Mom’s right.

Now finish your vegetables.