Sore losers populate the locker room of a proud NFL team.
The rapping of Ludacris was sacked by the mute button. Broncos walked from the showers, and whispered more on cellphones than they talked to teammates. Nobody lingered in a locker stall for long.
Question is: Were the Broncos in mourning, or is this a team whose championship dreams have died?
After practice Monday, fewer than 24 hours after their second consecutive disheartening loss at home, the only real noise in the locker room came from a television, which haunted the Broncos with images of LaDainian Tomlinson and San Diego ripping apart Denver’s reputation as a dominant defense.
A night earlier, after the Broncos blew a 24-7 lead with a total defensive collapse, I had asked Kenard Lang what message was being sent to the defense when coach Mike Shanahan decided the team’s best chance of winning was going for it on fourth down from its 38-yard line with more than three minutes remaining in a game Denver trailed by a single point.
It seemed to me Shanahan had insulted the defense that was supposed to do the heavy lifting for a championship contender.
“I didn’t take it as a slap in the face,” Lang insisted.
I believed Lang was telling the truth, but not the whole truth.
If Denver’s defensive reputation was not torched by 34 points from Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning, it was shredded by four touchdowns from Tomlinson, who had the Broncos talking as if he were a football god.
It was impossible to get the words of safety John Lynch out of my head. Lynch, who knows what winning a Super Bowl is about, said a championship team puts away a foe in trouble.
This team feels it all slipping away.
It needs a slap in the face from Shanahan.
Are these danger signs of Denver’s unavoidable demise, or blips Shanahan can correct?
Wide receiver Rod Smith appears old. At age 36, his production in terms of catches and yardage has dipped far below levels he maintained for nine wonderful seasons after becoming a starter in 1997.
The magic remains in his hands, fully capable of the spectacular catch. But his feet no longer go. Smith struggles to get separation from defensive backs, whether the Broncos run a gadget play to spring him or need the veteran to move the chains on fourth down. Remember when Tim Brown stopped beating anyone for the Raiders? That’s how Smith looks. The Broncos must find ways to throw more passes at rookie Brandon Marshall.
Although my middle-aged bones are beginning to crumble, I still stand 5 feet, 11 inches tall. And when I look defensive end Elvis Dumervil in the eye, he is looking up.
Although Dumervil has done himself proud as a rookie, if he is the team’s idea of a big-time pass rush, defensive coordinator Larry Coyer will have to take more risks with the blitz for the Broncos to stop offenses that have a clue.
In defeat, quarterback Jake Plummer talks in that what-can-you-do monotone of a guy waiting for the next bus out of town. He is the busted Bronco, with so much of the feistiness that made him so endearing absent from his eyes.
While it would be unfair to tell rookie Jay Cutler to take over as the starter so late in the playoff drive, I do not believe once Plummer walks to the Broncos bench as Cutler enters the huddle that Denver has reached the point of no return at quarterback. If Shanahan remains true to his gambling spirit, why not insert Cutler in a game, should the offense be sputtering at halftime?
This has been a team in transition, slowly shifting focus from veterans such as Lynch and Smith, from the day Shanahan skipped on the chance to nab a running back in the opening round of the NFL draft and traded up to get his quarterback of the future.
Shanahan has skillfully pushed and prodded and manipulated and challenged this team about as far as any coach can go without well-paid professionals beginning to bristle.
Beating Kansas City, on the road, in the NFL’s rowdiest outdoor stadium, where the locals will be full of turkey and beer, is more than a must win for the Broncos.
“You’ve got to keep on fighting,” Shanahan said.
Lose here and Shanahan does more than lose a game.
Lose here and the Broncos lose faith in the good fight.
Staff writer Mark Kiszla can be reached at 303-954-1053 or mkiszla@denverpost.com.
