There were 12,281 good reasons the Broncos didn’t blow up a last-place team at the NFL trade deadline, all of them as conspicuous in their absence from a stunning upset of Kansas City as no-show Taylor Swift.
The crazy-rich Waltons didn’t spend $4.65 billion on a sports franchise, then double down on a bid for greatness with outrageous investments in quarterback Russell Wilson and coach Sean Payton, only to become a league laughing stock and look like football novices without a clue on how to succeed in the NFL
While there were undoubtedly multiple factors why receiver Jerry Jeudy, linebacker Josey Jewell and a host of teammates rumored to be on the trade block are still here in Denver, there’s a whiff of unavoidable truth in the air.
It smells as if the most loyal fans in sports have the Broncos running a wee bit scared.
At no time in the last 50 years has our local NFL franchise held such a tenuous grip on Denver as a Broncos town, as evidenced by more than 12,000 empty seats in Empower Field at Mile High during the team’s most rousing home victory since it last made the playoffs in the 2015 season.
Yes, it was a damp and dreary 26 degrees at kickoff Sunday afternoon, but it wasn’t just the season’s first blast of winter that kept fans away from a game against a hated AFC West rival.
After Denver forced the Chiefs into five turnovers and ended a miserable 16-game losing streak, Broncos offensive tackle Mike McGlinchey said: “That’s a huge win. That’s a win that’s going to make us believers. It’s a win that can change an organization.”
With a record of 47-75 since the 2016 season-opener, could redemption be around the corner and a serious overhaul of the team be unnecessary? Do you believe what the Broncos are selling?
“We’re trying to make a Super Bowl run,” running back Javonte Williams said Monday, conveniently ignoring the fact that even after a two-game winning streak, Denver ranks ahead of only once-mighty New England among 16 AFC teams in a race for a playoff berth.
There’s nothing wrong with the Broncos trying to fool themselves into believing they are championship contenders.
But we won’t be fooled again.
Nobody’s tougher than a Broncomaniac, but chronic heartbreak can leave even the stoutest fan searching for more rewarding ways to make an emotional investment. Seldom, if ever during the last 50 years, have the Broncos been so consistently easy to ignore.
Nuggets center Nikola Jokic and the reigning NBA champs might be the most likable hoops team on earth. The Avalanche boldly seek to hoist the Stanley Cup for the second time in two years. And the big upset none of us saw coming? Coach Prime and the CU Buffs stole the Rocky Mountain thunder from the Broncos in the opening month of football season.
The one commandment chiseled in stone during the 38-year reign of Pat Bowlen as owner of Colorado’s most beloved sports franchise was to never take that love for granted.
With immense arrogance that allowed him to operate with little respect for what our NFL team truly means to Colorado, coach Sean Payton achieved what was long-thought impossible: He made the Broncos very hard to cheer for and easy to disregard.
When the Broncos reconvene after the bye week to prepare for a trip to Buffalo, it probably will require them to go 7-2 during the final half of the season to secure a wild-card berth in the playoffs. Rather than get on with stockpiling draft picks at the trade deadline, Denver put off the dirty work of rebuilding the roster yet again.
The lack of appeal in trade offers for their players was an indication the Broncos stubbornly value the worth of Jeudy and his teammates more than league rivals do.
It’s fair to ask: Do Payton and team ownership have the stomach to rebuild?
If more than 12,000 fans stayed away from the stadium on a chilly October afternoon for a home game against a division rival, what might the no-show count be on Christmas Eve for a Broncos team that had already thrown in the towel at midseason?
With the Walmart family fortune behind CEO and controlling owner Greg Penner, the Broncos can afford to do almost anything they want with this football team — except lose the attention of the most loyal fans in the NFL.
In the wake of the trade deadline, the primary reason Justin Simmons and Garett Bolles are still wearing orange and blue isn’t to make a playoff run.
Their job now is far bigger. The Broncos need to save their brand as the one team in Denver that’s impossible to ignore.
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