GLENDALE, Ariz. • An historic moment?

I was there for Von Miller’s “We’re going to go out there and we’re going kick their (behind)” press conference. He was asked a variety of questions about the Broncos. After every question, he eventually returned to the message of the day.

“We’re going to kick their (behind),” he said, again and again.

Your grandmother might not like Von’s message. The stumbling Arizona Cardinals do not like Von’s message.

I love Von’s message.

Von spoke simply. He spoke with desperation. He spoke boldly, a leader seeking to resurrect a franchise. (And, yes, I realize resurrection requires death.)

The Broncos have lost 15 of 22, inspiring hundreds of thousands of fans to consider not watching their orange heroes Thursday. A season teeters, again, and Von seeks to inject might into a wounded franchise.

Hope is fading. That’s for sure. The Broncos must win seven of their final 10 to finish with a winning record. Trust me, no one will plan a parade in downtown Denver for a 9-7 team.

But hope hasn’t vanished. The hopes are no longer for big things, but less ambitious hopes still flicker.

Von said, over and over, the past doesn’t matter. He’s worried only about the clash with the Cardinals. He has the right plan.

Quarterback Case Keenum is going with the-future-is-all-that-matters approach, too.

“It doesn’t matter what happened in the past,” he says. “For me, I’m going to give it everything I got. … We can do something about this Thursday night.”

“This” is a 2-4 record that includes a 34-16 loss to the Jets that ranks among the Broncos’ worst performances of the 21st century.

But “this” also includes a loss to the Chiefs that included three quarters of superlative work against the mighty Chiefs offense. After three quarters, Patrick Mahomes and company had scored a mere 13 points.

If you want to leap off the Broncos wagon, I understand. After the wonders of the Peyton Manning era, when the Broncos soared each season alongside the Patriots as the AFC’s elite, it’s excruciating to dwell in an NFL world where Colorado’s franchise is mediocre, or worse.

When you’ve grown accustomed to grabbing everything in the NFL, or close to everything, being stuck near the bottom is humiliating.

But, let’s be honest, aren’t you planning to watch the Broncos battle for victory Thursday in the Arizona desert? Don’t you wonder, just a little, if Von will make good on his reckless promise to kick some butt?

Don’t you, no matter how you try not to, care about this team?

“I’m definitely not making excuses,” Keenum says, taking a brief return to mistakes this season. “But I think we’re getting better, and that’s the goal.”

He has a point. The 2018 Broncos are better than the 2017 Broncos. Those are, of course, the very definition of faint words of praise, but they are accurate.

These Broncos will struggle to rise to an 8-8 record. This is a team still struggling through a rebuilding phase, still searching for an offensive leader to replace Peyton Manning, still playing for a coach who isn’t exactly sure what’s going on.

This is a team that needed someone, preferably a high-profile star, to light an inspiring fire.

Von tried, with all his might, to ignite an inferno Tuesday afternoon. We’ll see Thursday if the flame can come alive.