This wasn’t a rush to beat traffic. This was an unofficial, stadium-emptying protest against the home team.
The Broncos were down 34-3 to the 1-3 San Diego Chargers. Their quarterback, Jay Cutler, had just thrown an interception with 6:16 remaining in the third quarter. It was chilly, overcast and about to rain.
At that point, roughly, oh, 60,000 fans from the sellout crowd of 76,879 got up and left the building.
“Of course I noticed. How could you not notice?” Broncos strong safety Nick Ferguson said. “We didn’t give them too much to cheer about.”
Not all Bronco players were as understanding.
“I didn’t like that at all,” receiver Brandon Marshall said. “We have some of the best fans in the world, but sometimes when things don’t go right, like today and the past two weeks, you have to stick with us. Because you never know what’s going to happen in this game.”
As the departing fans surely predicted, the Broncos went on to lose. The final score was 41-3.
Home field isn’t what it used to be for the Broncos. They have lost six of their past eight home games. One win in that stretch came against Cincinnati last year and required a botched extra point in the final seconds. And the other, against Oakland, came after a Mike Shanahan timeout negated what would have been game-losing, final- play field goal.
Two wins in eight games is not what Broncos fans expect from their hard-earned money. For what people pay for entertainment these days, don’t they have the right to leave if they don’t like the movie?
“Can’t blame them,” center Tom Nalen said. “It was cold. Get out of there and go to the Avalanche game.”
