Melvin Gordon and Javonte Williams — a thunder and thunder running duo, if you will — destroyed the Detroit Lions Sunday for 184 yards and the first four of the team’s touchdowns, literally carrying the Denver Broncos to their seventh win of the season.

In fact, the Broncos two-headed running beast is so scary lately, it makes one wonder why offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur waited this long to take this approach.

While all the focus during the offseason, preseason and regular season was on the quarterback battle, it turns out Shurmur’s offense would have been better served by keeping it on the ground.

Sure, quarterback is the most important position on the team and in all of American sports. And the city of Denver has been long desperate for a true quarterback. But when the Broncos run the ball, they win.

To wit, Denver is now 4-1 this year when they run for 147-plus yards, with the only loss coming against the Kansas City Chiefs last week. And in that game, the Broncos turned the ball over three times, a hole too deep to climb out of against the class of the AFC West.

This Sunday, though, was a wonderful bounce-back game for the Broncos. Thanks to their dynamic duo of bruising backs.

Gordon came back after missing last week, and he was on fire. The seven-year veteran looked like he benefitted from the week off with lively legs, running for 111 yards on 24 carries (4.6 YPC) and 2 touchdowns.

On the team’s first drive, Gordon rushed for 42 yards, but it was Williams who carried the ball over the goal line. For Denver’s second drive, Williams was the main back — with 25 yards on the long drive — but Gordon capped it off with the score.

And on it went.

Denver rushed the ball with ease and with a reckless abandon against the Lions.

Williams actually earned his second touchdown of the day through the air, and the rookie who’s known for being the most difficult runner to tackle in the league is also becoming known as a dynamic receiving threat. He caught the ball while backpedaling towards the end zone, spun around to orient towards the goal line, then spun through a would-be tackle for the score.

Not to be out-done, Gordon capped off another Broncos drive by carrying the ball in over the goal line 14 yards up the middle to glory.

Of course, as we can see on Gordon’s second touchdown of the day, the offensive line was superb while blocking on the power run. And their dominance of Detroit’s defensive front cannot be missed.

Outside of the loss to the Baltimore Ravens, when the Broncos were completely bullied on both sides of the ball in the trenches, and the loss to the Cleveland Browns, Denver has won the line of scrimmage in every other game.

So the question for Shurmur following this game should be: What took so long?

Why did it take until Week 9 of the season for the Broncos to fully unleash their two-headed rushing attack?

At once, the running game has helped Denver’s offense by pushing the ball down field while simultaneously protecting the team’s quarterback. It requires Teddy Bridgewater to throw the ball less often, which has helped the Broncos win even in this pass-dominated league.

To wit, as the Broncos have won three of their last five games, Bridgewater threw only 26.3 times per game in the wins, and 38 times per game in the losses to Philly and KC. Meanwhile, Denver’s offense has averaged 154.2 yards per contest on the ground over the last five games.

So, it seems as though Shurmur has embraced the running game. No doubt about it, these Broncos are a run-first team and they’re winning when they run more than pass the ball.

But, Broncos Country is left wondering “what if?”

What if the team would have had this mode of attack all season long? It’s no secret the Broncos were built as a defensive powerhouse first and foremost, looking to slow down and stop opponents. That leaves the offense an opportunity to run the ball, control the clock and win games.

One argument from Shurmur could be that he didn’t know or expect Williams would be this good. Sure, that’s fair. However, we started seeing the rookie’s toughness and explosiveness in Week 2 and then again in Weeks 4 and 5 and so on.

So, now all of Broncos Country has to wonder what could have been if Shurmur would have just gone with a rush-first offense all season long. It’s likely Denver would have won an additional game or two (possibly against Pittsburgh or Cleveland) and they would be in the heart of the playoff hunt. Instead, they’re a long shot to make the postseason, and that hurts even after a big, home win.