DENVER — Is Russ cooked?

Come on, you were thinking it, too.

If not for a fourth-quarter escape act that looked like a highlight from his Seattle days, Wilson had 70,000 Broncomaniacs at Empower Field at Mile High wondering aloud if the beloved just made a $245 million mistake.

Then it happened. Russ went back in the phone booth and DangeRuss popped out in a cape.

“He started running around and made some plays,” coach Nathaniel Hackett said late Sunday after the Broncos snuck past the San Francisco 49ers 11-10 in a game only a punter’s mother could love.

For the first 11 quarters of his Broncos tenure, Wilson had been a statue of himself rather than his old dangerous self. Even Peyton Manning had more rushing yards in his first two games here than Russ had in his first two games here. The new guy simply wasn’t the same kind of threat.

Fourth quarter, third-and-6, Russ took off. He scrambled, dodged a tackler and dove headfirst for 12 yards and a critical first down. The crowd went crazy! Next play, a 19-yard strike to Courtland Sutton. When the drive finished in the end zone on a Melvin Gordon rumble, Wilson had his 36th game-winning drive and the Broncos had reason to believe the 33-year-old quarterback still has the elusiveness that made him one of the NFL’s most dangerous players.

“I thought Russell was just unbelievable (on the fourth-quarter drive),” Hackett said.

As if to drive home the point, Hackett added again: “He started running around.”

Run, Russ, run. Not all the time, but at key times.

With a dramatic win they probably didn’t deserve, the Broncos restored order to a chaotic start to the season. OK, some order. They still show only three touchdowns in three games and an offense that has been booed in all three games, with two of them being played at home. The boos began Sunday night when the Broncos opened with three consecutive three-and-outs.

Boooo.

While Broncos Country (and I!) rejoiced to the heavens when GM George Paton ended years of quarterback purgatory by trading for the great Russell Wilson, it was starting to make sense why the Seahawks brain trust of John Schneider and Pete Carroll shopped Wilson for four years even before the trade. They’re no dummies up in Seattle. They’re smarties up in Seattle. And if you had gifted a No. 3 Broncos jersey to Trevor Siemian, Teddy Bridgewater or Case Keenum on Sunday night, would you have noticed a significant difference in the Broncos offense?

Be honest. Ten punts is no way to kick off a new era. But that Corliss Waitman sure has a leg, hug? His 10 punts traveled roughly 5,280 feet.

The Seahawks still might be right to ship off Wilson in what is usually a quarterback’s prime. Standby. In order to cash their expensive wager on Wilson, the Broncos must get DangeRuss. They need him on the move, dodging poor tacklers, thriving on the “No… no… no… YES!” play that made him famous in the first place.

Wilson was 20 of 33 for 184 yards, no touchdowns, no interceptions. The concern wasn’t that he overthrew Sutton, but that he declined to scramble for a first down and underthrew Jerry Jeudy instead. The locals booed in the first half and in the second. They don’t discriminate anymore.

“We obviously want to score more points,” Hackett said.

Thank goodness for a Broncos defense that has allowed only 36 points over three games. The “D” had four sacks and forced three turnovers against the 49ers. They all deserve a game ball.

Hope arrived when it usually arrives for Wilson — in the fourth quarter. It was hope not only that the Broncos could win the game, but hope that Wilson still has the moves. Hope that he can skedaddle out of trouble and make something from nothing, his career-defining trait.

“We just kept staying on it,” Wilson said after.

On Tuesdays, usually off days for the Broncos, Wilson hosts what he calls a “state of the union” with the Broncos offense. His message this week: “Whatever you do, believe in this team.”

Three games in, do you believe this Russell Wilson is the same dangerous Russell Wilson from all those dynamic wins with the Seahawks?

Standby.