No longer united, ¶¶Òõapountry is divided by 50 discontented shades of orange.
Playoffs? We’re talking about playoffs? In the same sentence with these Broncos, losers of four straight games and left for dead in late October? C’mon, now. Get real. This untrustworthy team isn’t making the playoffs. Are you kidding me?
A football franchise once defined by a commitment to excellence and a devoutly loyal fan base is now so frayed by the disappointment of a long postseason drought that many frustrated supporters would rather blow it all up, fire coach Vic Fangio and run quarterback Teddy Bridgewater out of Denver. Like the rest of America, where noisy squabbling has become our national pastime, ¶¶Òõapountry is one big, unhappy family.
Where did the love go?
Well, all safety Justin Simmons knows is he desperately wants to win back the trust and loyalty of ¶¶Òõapountry. Despite his team’s mediocre 7-6 record, what does it mean to Simmons to play meaningful games in December, with a chance for Denver to make the playoffs for the first time since the 2015 season?
“It means everything,†Simmons said. “And not even selfishly, just for me. For the fan base, for ¶¶Òõapountry, for the organization.â€
Playing the Cincinnati Bengals at home, in what could well prove to be an elimination game for the loser, is more than the biggest football game for Denver in recent memory.
This is a chance for ¶¶Òõapountry to heal. It¶¶Òõap an opportunity for fans who have suffered too long to puff out their chests and scream with pride, rather than debate which coach or player at Dove Valley headquarters should be sent packing first. For too long, from the Bowlen kids bickering about ownership to unworthy quarterbacks getting bucked off the Broncos carousel, this team has been a source of constant aggravation.
In many ways, Simmons is not only the face of the franchise, but its conscience. At an annual average salary of $15.2 million, he is the highest-paid player on the defensive side of the football. On a regular basis, he is also the voice of reason in the Denver locker room.
But at age 28, in his sixth professional season and the prime of his career, Simmons has never experienced the excitement, the pressure and the ferocity of the NFL playoffs.
“When I got drafted here, I obviously (knew) they were just coming off the Super Bowl. But just being a fan of the game, also recognizing how prestigious this organization is in terms of winning, getting to the postseason … things like that.†said Simmons, selected in the third round of the 2016 draft, weeks after Denver beat Carolina to claim the league championship in the final game of Peyton Manning’s storied career.
At a time in American society when it¶¶Òõap a sign of strength to look out for No. 1 and often regarded as an indication of weakness to give a hoot about your neighbor, maybe the best thing the Broncos could do is find a way to unite a stadium of orange-clad spectators who have been quick to boo with displeasure whenever the offense sputters with a three-and-out series.
Simmons not only understands the vexation of customers who pay good money for tickets, he feels personally responsible for changing the narrative of a team now regarded as patsies for Kanas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the rest of the AFC elite.
Even if the Broncos win three of the final four games on their schedule and slip into the playoff field with a 10-7 record, it would be foolishly optimistic to consider them a legit championship contender without an elite quarterback in the huddle.
But here’s the reason cheering for Denver to flop seems more than a little irrational, if not downright cynical: Making the playoffs would allow Simmons and teammates to restore a winning culture to a locker room that has perhaps accepted defeat too easily for the past five years.
“I want to be part of the guys that get back there (to the playoffs) and not the guys that continue the slope of not being there,†Simmons said.
Everybody in the NFL wants to get paid. Simmons got his money in a 4-year, $61 million deal. Now he wants to give back to the football community he calls home.
“Selfishly, of course, I want to go (to the playoffs) and I want to experience that and I want to win,†Simmons said.
“But more importantly, I want to make sure that we give that back to the fans and ¶¶Òõapountry, because they deserve it.â€
The only way this team can regain the trust of ¶¶Òõapountry is one victory at a time.
