I kind of took a hiatus from following the Broncos the last two years. Part of it was all the politics, but the other part was knowing I wasn’t missing anything. Vic Fangio’s Broncos were no better than Vance Joseph’s Broncos and Teddy Bridgewater was just a continuation of the quarterback carousel that began after the Broncos won Super Bowl 50 way back in February of 2016.
As expected, Fangio and Bridgewater were sent on their merry way after the season. And the Broncos franchise went up for sale, signaling that the ownership limbo that had seemingly paralyzed the team for the past several years was about to end.
Nathaniel Hackett was hired to be the head coach. There was some hope that Aaron Rodgers might follow him out of Green Bay to become the new quarterback. Although that ultimately did not happen, disappointment was dispelled when GM George Paton worked a deal with the Seattle Seahawks to trade for Russell Wilson, a nine-time Pro Bowl quarterback who had been on the winning side of Super Bowl XLVIII, in which the Seahawks crushed the Broncos 43-8.
The price was steep - two first round draft picks, two seconds, and three players. But it seemed worth it since finding elite-level passers is so difficult.
In August, the sale of the team to the “Walton-Penner group” was finalized for a price of $4.65 billion, so in more than one way this season seemed like the beginning of a new era of pro football in Denver.
I attended the first preseason game against the Dallas Cowboys a few days later at Empower Field. Reports were indicating that starters would not see any action in this game because Hackett wanted to keep their bodies healthy for the stretch run when they would certainly be contending for playoff position. Even so, it seemed like a missed opportunity to me. The fans have suffered through five consecutive losing seasons, but now they have hope that fortunes are about to change. For the sake of public relations, it seemed like they could have at the very least sent Wilson and the starters out for a couple of series. Instead, we were treated to the Josh Johnson show, a quarterback who didn’t even wind up making the team. It was a little odd, but certainly forgivable if it paid dividends in the long run.
The Broncos haven’t had much of a national profile since Peyton Manning left, so when they were scheduled to open the season on Monday Night Football in Seattle, I was there for it. We quickly found out that the Broncos could have used a little more preseason action. They showed an inability to score in the red zone and lost two fumbles on the goal line. They also committed 12 penalties. Still, it really felt like the Broncos would figure out a way to win. They had the ball at midfield with less than two minutes to go, plenty of time to get in position for a game-winning field goal. Three passes netted only five yards. I ran to the restroom when they called timeout, expecting to come back out and see a do-or-die, climactic, 4th & 5 play. Instead, I was surprised to see Brandon McManus lining up for a 64-yard field goal. It was a little odd not only because there had only been two successful field goals from that distance in all of NFL history, but also because they had just signed Wilson to a $245 million contract just 11 days earlier and he now had a chance to stick it in Seattle’s ear. You finally have the quarterback who could make a big play in crunch time, and instead you’re making him stand and watch while you take a chance on a nearly impossible kick?
Of course, he missed it, and the Broncos lost. Hackett’s questionable decision was debated almost nonstop in the media for days afterwards. Yet, even though the Broncos struggled offensively in their next two games, they squeaked out tight wins over the Texans and the 49ers to get their record to 2-1, which at the time was good enough to put them in a tie with the Kansas City Chiefs for first place in the AFC West.
From there, it’s been downhill. They went to Las Vegas and lost to the Raiders who were 0-3 at the time. The Broncos pulled within 25-23 in the fourth quarter but the defense was unable to get a stop and give Wilson another shot to win it. Four days later came one of the ugliest games ever played, on national television for all the nation to see. The Broncos had a 9-6 lead and the ball deep in Colts territory with just over two minutes remaining - and somehow figured out a way to lose the game in overtime.
Eleven days later, the Broncos again failed to hold a fourth-quarter lead on national TV (this time on Monday Night Football) and after a muffed punt late in overtime, lost 19-16 to the Chargers after Dustin Hopkins kicked his fourth field goal of the game even though he had an injured hamstring.
Wilson sat out the next game, which the Broncos lost 16-9 despite outperforming the Jets offensively. They went to London and broke a four-game losing streak by beating the Jaguars, but following their bye week they blew an early lead against the Titans to drop to 3-6 on the season.
However, they weren’t in last place in the division, which was an honor reserved for the Raiders, who were a lowly 2-7 and coming to Denver. For the Broncos, it was a very winnable game. And they led 16-13 with two minutes remaining. However, once again they figured out a way to give the game away. An incomplete pass on third down stopped the clock and left enough time for the Raiders to get in position for a field goal to tie the game. The Raiders won the coin toss, and moments later scored a touchdown to end the game. The way they lost was bad - but the fact that it came at home, to the rival Raiders, who had beaten no one outside of the Texans and Broncos, and completed a season sweep at the hands of their former dumpster fire of a head coach, Josh McDaniels - compounded the embarrassment.
The Colts loss confirmed our fears that this was a season headed nowhere. The Raiders loss made it official. The Broncos have seven games remaining. Two are against the Chiefs and one against the Ravens. All three of those are certainly losses. They have two road games remaining against the Panthers and the Rams and a couple of home dates against the Cardinals and Chargers. Those latter four are all winnable, but then every game on Denver’s schedule to date has been “winnable” and here we are in last place at 3-7. So it’s beginning to look a lot like 5-12, which would make it the worst Broncos season since 2010, incidentally the year they fired McDaniels.
So who’s to blame for this disaster of a season?
Is it Melvin Gordon, who the Broncos waived on Monday after another costly fumble?
Or is it Wilson, who has performed far below expectations and seems to be more concerned with selfish desires than winning football games?
Perhaps it is Hackett, who seems woefully unqualified to be an NFL head coach?
Maybe it’s Paton, who conducted the coaching search and went with Hackett, perhaps for no other reason than to lure Aaron Rodgers to the Mile High City?
It could be the defense, which has been somewhat culpable in the late-game failures.
We could also bring up the trainers and strength and conditioning people…how else do you explain the endless parade of players to the season-ending injured reserve?
In reality, we’re here because we lost one of the great owners in NFL history. It all starts at the top and the culture started deteriorating along with Pat Bowlen’s health. You can bring in a quarterback or a new coach or accumulate draft picks or spend on free agents, but if you’re weak at the top it probably won’t matter.
