What, you think you’re tired of watching the Broncos lose?
Try playing for them, Sparky.
Mike Shanahan says this is the hardest season he ever has experienced in his 24 years of roaming NFL sidelines. And to think, Shanahan’s biggest physical issue has been an allergic reaction to a cat.
He hasn’t taken or delivered a single hit. He hasn’t had his bell rung or his knee bruised. He hasn’t had to drag himself to the hot tub to get over the latest round of bumps and bruises.
Jay Cutler has.
If Cutler is looking tired these days, it’s only because he is. He’s tired of losing. Tired of getting beat up. Tired of everything that goes with a 6-9 season that will come to an anticlimactic end on Sunday.
They say winning cures everything, but Cutler will have to take their word for it. He has known mostly losing since becoming the Broncos’ starting quarterback with five games remaining in the 2006 season.
The Broncos are 8-12 in the 20 games since then. Maybe if they were winning, or even competing more consistently, the aches and pains wouldn’t hurt so much. Maybe adrenalin would carry him into January.
But no. The Broncos are losing and Cutler admittedly is running on fumes, “worn down” to use his words.
“It’s a long season,” he said. “It’s long mentally and physically. It can get to you.”
They may not be at the top of the official to-do list for a young quarterback, but finding a second wind in December and not letting the emotional swings of a season get to you are on there. It’s easier said than done, and easier done with experience.
Nothing Cutler said comes as any surprise. It’s all part of becoming a veteran NFL quarterback. He’ll be better at it next season, and even better the year after. Give him enough time and he’ll get used to it just like John Elway and Jake Plummer and Brian Griese got used to it.
The key is not to get used to losing.
Follow Jim Armstrong’s daily Broncos commentaries on The Jimmy Page at 7 a.m. and noon, and read his columns on Sundays and the day after Broncos games at .
He can be reached at 303-954-1269 or jmarmstrong@denverpost.com.
