MINNEAPOLIS -- For those resting at the top of the depth chart, Thursday's preseason finale in Minnesota was a final tuneup before the regular season opener in Jacksonville a week from Sunday.
But for the Broncos battling to hold on to their orange and blue uniform, the stakes were much higher.
Perform well and keep your job. Disappoint and you might be out of the NFL. Plenty of players thrived under the scrutiny, but with every play magnified, things didn't always go smoothly in a 31-24 loss at Mall of America Field.
"You get some of these guys extended playing time and they're playing with a lot of pressure," said 
With the starters -- featuring
For the third time in the preseason, the Broncos were the first team to score, as Orton orchestrated a 10-play, 58-yard drive that culminated with
"I told these guys when I got here that I will get the touchdowns for them if they need that," said White, who left the game with an injury and did not return. "I'm excited about it. If they need me to get 50 touchdowns this year than that's what I'll do and I'll love every minute of it."
After the defense forced its third consecutive three-and-out, it seemed the Vikings were in for a long night.
In actuality, the night wasn't getting any easier for either team.
Denver had five more drives in the first half. They came to abrupt halts with a fumble that was returned for a touchdown, an interception that led to a field goal, a fumble, another fumble that led to a touchdown and a turnover on downs, respectively.
"We talked to them at halftime about just settling down," Head Coach Josh McDaniels said. "It wasn't that we couldn't move the ball, it wasn't that we couldn't stop them on defense, we were just struggling to stay on the field and not get in front of ourselves. We were kind of tripping our own selves up there in the first half."
To that point, the defense held the Vikings to just 54 yards of total offense in the first half while the Denver offense gained 195, yet the Broncos trailed 17-7.
In the second half, the Broncos put that production to better use. On the first drive of the third quarter,
"That was a play-action fake, dropping back, I knew that Matt beat him so I just put it out there for him and he made a great play and got in the end zone," said Tebow, who completed 10 consecutive passes en route to a passer rating of 102.9.
But the Vikings had an immediate answer, putting together a seven-play touchdown drive to go back up by 10 points.
That back-and-forth feel continued for the remainder of the game. For the next three drives, the Broncos and Vikings traded turnovers. First came a turnover on downs by the Broncos, followed by a 51-yard interception return by
The defense kept the Broncos in the game, however, forcing a quick three-and-out on the following drive that nearly featured a safety courtesy of
But as was the theme, Minnesota had an answer just four plays later -- a 63-yard touchdown strike from Webb to former Bronco Javon Walker past Smith, who slipped and fell in coverage.
"It was one of those nights,"
Still, after all the fireworks -- good and bad -- on both sides of the ball, a fumble forced by
"It was fun altogether to perform like that in the second half -- we wanted that two-minute drive to come out with a victory, but we weren't able to," said
With the loss the Broncos finished the preseason 1-3, with big decisions looming this weekend. The roster will be trimmed to 53 players by Saturday, with the formation of a practice squad following shortly thereafter.
Soon the team will begin its preparation for a Week 1 trip to Jacksonville, and Bannan said the club is excited to see just how far the progress made in the preseason can take them.
"I think we took steps in a positive direction every week, and obviously we have all of our mistakes to correct and things to work on," he said. "We've got a ways to go. We'll find out next Sunday."
