The yips are the worst.

Does Melvin Gordon have the yips? One of America’s top sports psychologists says no.

“It’s possible for a kicker to have the yips, or a quarterback with easy passes,” Dr. Rob Bell, a good friend and mental toughness coach, explained to me on Wednesday. “Is it possible (for a running back) to have the yips? Not when it comes to big movements like ball protection.

“Protection of the football is different. Protecting the ball is a defensive move.”

Shows what I know. Watching Gordon fumble five times in 44 carries, I was sure the beleaguered Broncos running back has the yips. It looked like Gordon had football’s equivalent to the golf yips — chilidips from just off the green, putting 3-footers with white knuckles.

So that’s good news, I guess. You don’t have to worry about Gordon’s yips. This part, well, this part is a worry: “Whatever you focus on, you feel,” says Dr. Bell.

And all the focus in a watershed game for the Broncos is on one Bronco, No. 25. In his last public appearance, Gordon walked out of a news conference in tears after another crushing fumble.

“We can think about it too much,” Bell says. “The athlete can think about it too much.”

The Broncos host the Colts at Empower Field at Mile High, and it’s tough to imagine a worse scenario for someone with shaky confidence: a 2-2 Broncos team that badly needs a win, lost star running back Javonte Williams to a blownup knee, going to “lean on” Melvin Gordon, who’s fumbled five times over the past five games — performing in front of 70,000 people and another 20 million or so on Amazon Prime.

What, locusts, floods and COVID-19 weren’t available?

Pays well, but this situation is brutal. This situation is a case study in the human psyche, how much pressure one can handle. For Gordon, at least it comes with a $126,000 game check.

The Broncos spent this week embracing Gordon in a group hug.

“We had a great mental day with him, and so we’re ready to go with it,” play-caller Nathaniel Hackett said.

“You can’t bury him. You have to put your arm around him,” offensive coordinator Justin Outten said.

You could argue the extra attention will make Gordon think about it more. Guess we’ll see.

At least it’s not the yips, which are the worst.

“The yips happen because of overanalyzing a fine motor movement,” says Dr. Bell, whose new book is titled “Puke & Rally.” “To get real into the weeds, it’s sort of a neurological issue: the fear that it might happen is what causes it to happen. Am I going to shank this ball? Is that involuntary flinch going to happen in my putting stroke?”

Broncos Country has the boos, not the yips. Visiting team, home team, they’re all fair game. The locals have welcomed Russell Wilson’s Broncos to Mile High for two games, and they’ve booed Russell Wilson’s Broncos in two games. But that’s the thing — they’ve booed the

Broncos. Thursday could be a rare case when they boo a single, lonely man — Melvin Gordon.

Does anyone with a heart want to see that?

Another time that’s happened was with Garett Bolles, the left tackle,

for “Holding, No. 72.” That was brutal, too, when Garett “Holds” happened over and over.

Same with Gordon’s fumbles. No running back or wide receiver over the past four seasons has fumbled more than Gordon, according to ESPN.

Gordon’s fumbles can come in bunches. He’s had six games with multiple fumbles, which speaks to Dr. Bell’s final evaluation of fumble-itis: “The other part that’s mental is not letting go of the last one. That could be the case.”

Other than the fumbles, underlying factors in the Gordon pile-on were out of his control: he came here from the Chargers, an AFC West rival, and competed for the Broncos starting job against Phillip Lindsay, a Colorado favorite. Guess who’s back?

With Colts star Jonathan Taylor sitting this one out due to injury, “Phillip Lindsay will work into the equation,” coach Frank Reich told reporters. Sheesh, this whole episode is like an Amazon Prime screenplay. Might be a drama, might be a feel-good story, might be a horror movie.

Guess we’ll see.