Sunday, Oct. 7, 2007, will live in Broncos’ infamy as The Fiasco at Invesco.
There was gloom.
There is doom.
An ominous black cloud hung over the stadium Sunday afternoon.
A portentous dark shroud hangs over the Broncos.
The Broncos are beyond wretched.
That was the most pathetic, pitiable display of effort, skill and emotion by a Broncos team in more than 40 years.
The 75,617 “fans” gave the Broncos a new Mile High Salute.
They got up and left en masse, as they might during the worst, screeching piano recital in modern history. The “Broncos” were the no-shows; the “fans” were the no-stays. Well before the end, maybe 617 remained.
Sunday is a bye. Yesterday was bye-bye.
“I did a very poor job of getting this football team ready,” Mike Shanahan understated. “I don’t know if I’ve ever been more embarrassed. I don’t think our players have ever been more embarrassed to put on that type of show.”
The Broncos played air football. Nothing but air and airheads.
In 1963 the Broncos lost a game 59-7. They finished 2-11-1. This group of coaches and players has that potential.
“We’re a much better football team than we were today,” Shanahan overstated.
The 109 million dollar (salary cap) question is: What’s wrong with the Broncos?
Answer: They’re a bad “team” with many bad “players” and some “bad” coaches. And anybody who believed they would be a much better team than they were Sunday was grossly mistaken. This ancient fool pleads guilty.
Shanahan does have to accept the blame for yesterdays and tomorrows, and the coach-for-life must be held accountable. The city and the region grow weary of false promises and repeated failures.
No mastermind or brilliant brain would have put such inept, ill-prepared offenders, defenders and nonspecial-team guttersnipes on the field.
Kickoff returners, no matter who, fumble the football.
Receivers fumble the football.
Travis Henry fumbles his life and can’t run or hide.
Jim Bates, the so-clever defensive coordinator, has installed a system that doesn’t work with players who don’t work. Jabba The Adams can’t do it, and the Broncos know it. Simeon Rice and Ian Gold are not getting it done, and the Broncos don’t know why. D.J. Williams is not succeeding in the middle, and everybody knows it. Nate Webster waved at LaDainian Tomlinson on one lengthy run, and everyone saw it. The linebackers can’t or won’t fill the gaps and the passing lanes, and the Broncos realize it and can’t correct it. The defense is in denial and incompetent. The offense is impotent, and the play-calling is ludicrous and laughable.
“Can’t anybody here return the football on punts and kickoffs and play this game?” Casey Stengel would have said.
“We’ve got to go back to basics and fundamentals,” said safety John Lynch, the only player on the defense who is responsible and taking responsibility. (Champ Bailey walked away saying, “No … no … no.”
“I’ve only felt this kind of humiliation once before,” said Lynch, who jerked off his helmet at one point and had a look that would harm. “I was disgusted by a touchdown.”
The Broncos had all the wrong people in all the wrong places. Out of chaos has come disorder.
Jay Cutler again was ho-hum – 232 yards and one interception (nine consecutive games with a pick), one fumble he recovered and another fourth-down flop. When are you coming home, Daniel Graham? Brandon Marshall ripped the fans for leaving prematurely … er … maturely, but didn’t rip himself for fumbling away the ball or rip his teammates for smushball.
Fourteen points in 11 seconds, more red-zone follies, no stopping the run, no stopping the pass, no stopping the fall in the autumn.
San Diego was a team in disarray. The Broncos turned them into a team with a ray of optimism.
But the Broncos, as Lynch said quietly, “came into the year with great expectations to be a championship team. We have to do something to get that back.”
Shanahan said he didn’t see any quit in the Broncos Sunday. He must not have been looking. The season-ticket holders were. They saw quit, and they quit on the Broncos.
The Broncos deserved the walkout protest. They’ve lost three in a row, two at home. They don’t improve themselves on defense, and they don’t prove themselves on offense. They have dropped into a tie in the AFC West with Kansas City and San Diego at 2-3 and are a half game behind, yes, the Oakland Raiders (2-2 with a bye). And they were “Ishtar” awful yesterday.
The Broncos are gloom and doomed.
Woody Paige: 303-954-1095 or wpaige@denverpost.com
