Good thing Aqib Talib’s not here anymore. Shoot, same for Chris Harris Jr.

It would be a toasty New Year’s Eve in Gunnison before those bad dudes would stand for this Broncos nonsense. No way that bunch of proud defenders would be OK with this Broncos offense after the Los Angeles Chargers beat ’em 19-16 at SoFi Stadium on Sunday.

Those big meanies got bent out of shape when the great Peyton Manning struggled, for crying out loud. What four-letter expletives would Talib, Harris and those other hot heads save for Drew Lock and this Broncos offense?

Two field goals! That’s what Lock squeaked out through three quarters against the Chargers, who won’t be confused with the 1985 Bears, 2000 Ravens or 2015 Broncos any time soon. This Chargers defense allows 27.8 per game. This Chargers defense gave up 45 points to Cam Newton and a bad Patriots team just this month.

Yet it wasn’t until 3:50 remained in the fourth quarter that Lock guided the Broncos into the end zone. My math’s not great, but that looks like 56 minutes, 10 seconds, without a TD.

Do you think Talib, whose temperature ran hot and hotter, would be cool with that offense?

“Broncos fans are probably going to get tired of me saying this, but it’s just the little things,” Lock said after.

Yeah, they’re not going to get tired of it.

They are way past tired of it.

What are we doing here, Broncos? For a franchise that brought Colorado John Elway and Peyton Manning, this is embarrassing. And that sums up Lock’s day too. Lock’s not “the guy,” as the 24-year-old quarterback called himself earlier in the week. He’s just a guy. It wasn’t halfway through the first quarter Sunday that his play proved so yet again — an interception in the end zone that was just the same ol’, same ol’ from a quarterback who should know better.

“That’s from Day 1 you talk to him about that,” Broncos coach Vic Fangio said, pulling no punches. “You can’t throw red-zone interceptions, especially one where there really wasn’t much there.”

There is no excuse for the Broncos’ offense to be this bad — unless the quarterback is, actually, this bad. While they played Sunday with $71 million tied into unavailable players, the biggest chunk of change was on the defensive side.

The offense is mostly healthy, relative to injury lists around this COVID-19 season. Still, this: if the Broncos don’t score eight points in the season finale — God bless it — this will mark the first time since the 1970s the Broncos will fail to score 300 points in back-to-back seasons. They’re at 292 right now. Only the Jags and Jets, who will pick No. 1 and No. 2 in the next NFL draft, are the same or worse in the AFC.

I shudder to think what those raucous Broncos defenders would say about this Broncos’ offense.

But I’d sure have a recording device ready.

It was reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter that Fangio will return as coach of the Broncos in 2021. If that’s the case, no one should stand taller on a table for a quarterback than Fangio. His second contract depends on capable quarterbacking, or the coach likely will be fired.

The Broncos should be playoffs-or-bust (it all up) in 2021.

If the new QB is a first-round draft pick, so be it. If he’s a backup who’s good enough to steal the starting job, so be it. But there’s no way to watch Drew Lock vs. Justin Herbert and think the Broncos are OK there. They’re not. They’re absolutely not. They’re still in big trouble there.

The Broncos lost when Chargers kicker Michael Badgley booted the game-winner from 37 yards with :41 left in regulation. Lock’s comeback attempt got off to an inauspicious start when he one-hopped a pass to DaeSean Hamilton down the field. The ball bounced to Hamilton. He looked surprised too. OK, so it’s only fair to point out rookie wide receiver Jerry Jeudy dropped five passes. That hurt Lock’s day.

“That’s unacceptable,” Jeudy said.

Maybe it’s too early to judge a young quarterback. Maybe Lock develops into a Pro Bowler who leads the Broncos past Herbert’s Chargers and Patrick Mahomes’ Chiefs. I just don’t see it. Do you? Really, do you?

Here was Trevor Siemian’s first 16 starts with the Broncos: a completion percentage of 60 percent, 24 touchdowns, 12 interceptions, 240.7 yards per game, a passer rating of 87. And here was Lock’s: 59.7 percent, 21 touchdowns, 16 interceptions, 209.4 yards per game, 79.8.

“I think it takes more than 16 games to find out if a guy is your quarterback,” Elway said on KOA, and true to his word, Elway afforded Siemian another go.

But don’t take my word for it. Take the Broncos’ actions. The offensive brain trust didn’t trust Lock to win the game. They wanted him to not lose it. The Broncos trailed 16-13 when they got the ball at their 42, a pretty good place to start with plenty of time on the clock. Game on the line, they ran as many running plays as passing plays. Sorry, but that’s not trust. That’s fear.

“There’s a lot of good (with Lock), and there’s some that’s got to get cleaned up and disappear,” Fangio said.

With Herbert and Mahomes looming for a decade or more in the AFC West, the Broncos bring a Super Soaker to a gunslinger’s party.

Can you imagine if the proud, hot-headed defenders of old were still around for this?