After coming into the season with high expectations, the Denver Broncos have fallen flat, losing four in a row to drop to 2-5 thanks in large part to having the lowest-scoring offense in the NFL.

But Broncos general manager George Paton isn’t putting the blame on first-year head coach Nathaniel Hackett.

“I believe in Nathaniel. I support Nathaniel 100 percent,” Paton said, per Denver7’s Troy Renck. “He’s been in this for seven games as a head coach. The scrutiny he’s faced is unprecedented. We’ve had four primetime games so he’s had to learn in front of the entire world.”

He added that Hackett has done a great job at keeping the team together and connected.

Paton is being kind to his head coach. The Broncos’ abysmal offense, late-game clock mismanagement and other missteps are directly related to the team’s record.

In Week 6, the Broncos fell to the Chargers in overtime, losing by a field goal in OT for the second game in a row. Denver gained 12 total yards in overtime while punting twice and muffing a punt in the extra session, setting up the Chargers’ game-winning kick. A week earlier, Denver failed to score a touchdown against the Colts and lost when it failed on a fourth-down conversion in overtime in possibly the worst game of the season so far.

The Broncos punt the ball 5.6 times per game, tied with the Commanders for the most in the league. Last season they punted just under four times a game.

Hackett made his first blunder of the season in Week 1 this year when he sent out his kicker for a 64-yard field-goal try instead of entrusting Russell Wilson on a fourth-and-5. The field goal missed and the Broncos lost. In Week 2, Broncos fans counted down the play clock in a show of frustration with how their team was managing the clock.

Paton is giving his support to Hackett now, but there has been “chatter” around the league about the possibility of Hackett being fired soon, according to ESPN, and an NFC executive said early in October that they would give Hackett “one, maybe two weeks” before firing him.