Two weeks into the season the NFL is just getting started. But I’ve drawn some preliminary conclusions based on what I’ve seen so far.

First, Denver is a lot better than I expected. The defense still needs some work, as witnessed by today’s 39-38 win over San Diego. But while last week’s 41 point explosion against Oakland could have been chalked up to simply playing a bad team, the Chargers, even sans Shawne Merriman, still harbor a legitimate defense.

Jay Cutler looks fantastic. He’s thrown for 650 yards and six touchdowns with just one interception thus far. Last week rookie wideout Eddie Royal stepped up in Brandon Marshall’s stead for a huge day. Today Marshall returned to catch the second most passes in a game in NFL history and Tony Scheffler chipped in with two touchdowns and six catches.

Typically I would like to see one or two running backs emerge as “the guy” or “the guys” but Denver doesn’t seem to need that – they rolled up 145 yards using three backs and Cutler on their way to 486 total yards. Going for two and playing for the win was incredibly gutty. I loved that call. And this team really looks good right now. Next week’s tilt in Denver against New Orleans suddenly seems incredibly interesting to me and then the Broncs have should-win games against Kansas City and Tampa Bay.

This team does tease from time to time so I’m not 100 percent convinced yet. But they look much, much better than I expected them to in the season’s early going.

For as good as Denver has looked thus far, that’s how equally disappointing Minnesota has been. Tarvaris Jackson didn’t lead Minnesota to a touchdown until the fourth quarter against Green Bay Monday night and on Sunday against Indianapolis the team settled for five field goals, taking a 15 point lead before coughing up the game in the fourth quarter.

The team historically underachieves when expectations are high and I told my wife as Ryan Longwell booted three-pointer after three-pointer today that the failure to score touchdowns would come back to haunt them. Alas, when Peyton Manning inevitably finally got hot the Vikings couldn’t hold them down to hang onto the win.

The 0-2 start is made more bothersome by the team’s next trio of games, which are against Carolina (2-0), Tennessee (2-0) and New Orleans (1-1). This team, a trendy Super Bowl pick by some, has a legitimate shot at 0-5 if it can’t start converting some of Adrian Peterson’s shamefully wasted yardage (into touchdowns. Teams should not have a running back with 263 yards rushing after two games and be 0-2. It shouldn’t be possible.

But the passing game (308 yards after two games) has not held up its end of the bargain. It’s probably not all Tarvaris Jackson’s fault, but it might be time to look temporarily at a different field general – either Gus Frerotte or maybe a Jeff Garcia – to at least add some experience and veteran leadership to the mix. While Ryan Longwell may well break the all-time field goal record – he’s on pace for 56 – teams cannot win on field goals alone.

If this doesn’t get solved, a talent-filled team will be spending the holidays at home once again.