Do not look too closely. Do not ask, because the truth is discouraging. Do not tell a soul in the NFL, which preys on the weak.
But, in a 35-27 loss to San Diego, the Broncos let their dirty little secret slip.
Denver coach Mike Shanahan has masterfully and artfully masked his team’s flaws for weeks, covering for a quarterback he does not trust, a defensive line that cannot generate pressure, a running game that relies too much on players off the street.
But what is revealed underneath the mask?
Desperation. The desperation of the Broncos was all too evident Sunday night. They are brave and tough. They are also pretenders. The Broncos are beautiful pretenders trying to hide behind Champ Bailey and Javon Walker. But they are championship pretenders.
What caused the Broncos to go for it on fourth down, from their 38-yard-line, trailing San Diego by a single point with more than three minutes left in the fourth quarter?
Pure desperation.
“I felt like we needed to do something,” said Shanahan, who could have chosen to punt with two timeouts in his pocket and the ability to stop the clock with the two-minute warning. Why not? The Chargers, he said, “were controlling the tempo of the game in the second half. They were 4-for-4 in the red zone. They were moving the ball and we were behind. We wanted to go for the win and it didn’t turn out very well.”
Rather than punt and take his chances with his defense, Shanahan was so desperate, that needing 4 yards for a first down, he put the football in the hands of quarterback Jake Plummer, who to that point had such a miniscule role in the game plan that the veteran had completed only 10 passes all night.
Bad idea.
Plummer threw an interception directly into the waiting hands of San Diego cornerback Drayton Florence.
“It was a bad play,” Plummer said.
It was another bad game by Plummer, who would finish with a meager 183 yards on 13 completions. I now count seven of 10 games this season in which Plummer deserves a grade of “C” or worse. No offense designed by Shanahan should accept barely average as acceptable.
Denver’s cover has been blown as completely as the 24-7 advantage San Diego wiped out in the second half with such scary dominance that at least 50,000 Broncomaniacs could not stand to watch, leaving the stadium before the final gun.
The invincible confidence of this defense, cracked by Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning, was shattered by the 179 all-purpose yards and four touchdowns by Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson.
Shanahan has tried every trick in his black book. But he’s a football coach, not a magician. And you tell me if a Super Bowl has been won on sleight of hand.
Despite a 7-3 record, this is a Denver team whose identity has been shaken, a team that doesn’t know the name of its most reliable tailback, a team that came undone and lost its poise as penalty flags flew when San Diego pounded home a final TD.
But know the most desperate piece of knowledge of all?
Even the most ardent supporters of Plummer, the diehards who love him even after he drops the snap on a key third down in the red zone or blindly throws an interception, must know he is a dead quarterback walking.
Shanahan will do anything to win and fears nothing. But it would be foolhardy to risk the brilliant future of rookie quarterback Jay Cutler by asking him to learn on the job now.
Plummer cannot beat the best teams in the AFC at home. How can anyone reasonably expect him to lead the Broncos to the Super Bowl on the road in January?
Cutler is the future of this team. But to begin the future now would be grossly unfair to Cutler. The stretch drive to the NFL playoffs is not the place for a baptism. It would be more like throwing the baby out with the bath water.
So the Broncos are stuck. Stuck with a lame-duck quarterback with a nasty habit of throwing too many dead-duck passes.
Count on the Broncos in the playoffs. It’s almost unfathomable Shanahan would allow even a deeply shaken team to collapse.
But desperation is in the denial.
Shanahan cannot tell center Tom Nalen, receiver Rod Smith or safety John Lynch, all on the wrong side of age 35, this team needs to wait until next year.
The Broncos are afraid to tell the truth.
Staff writer Mark Kiszla can be reached at 303-954-1053 or mkiszla@denverpost.com.
