The plan from here on out.

What's up Broncos fans. It's been a tough day for a lot of us, if not all of us. I'm not impressed with anything I've seen from this team today. The only bright spot in the day was watching Orton come out for the first time and hearing the fans reaction to him. Finally the guy gets some credit for what he is--a solid quarterback that IS the best option to succeed. I'm not here to rub the Pro-Simms/Brandstater crowd's noses in it. I think everyone can agree now (finally) that Kyle Orton is the best quarterback on the Broncos roster.

So, without any more delays, I present to you the plan. This is what I would do if I were Josh McDaniels. I'm not a head football coach, so spare me the line "Well, that's why you don't get paid to make decisions." Check it out.

Step 1: Fire Mike Priefer. If the decision to onside kick in the third quarter was Priefer's idea, then he's got no business being the main coach for the ST unit. 

Step 2: Move Simms below Brandstater on the depth chart. Look, Chris Simms deserves something of a mulligan on the day. He hasn't started a game in over 3 years. However, his efforts today do not indicate to me that he is a serviceable backup quarterback. Remember, the business is winning first and foremost. Feel good stories only feel good when they end well. I'm sure Chris had a better visual of his first start since his extremely unfortunate spleen incident, but this is not preseason anymore.

Maybe I'm crazy for thinking this, but Simms must have been doing a lot more wrong than we saw because McD doesn't strike me as a guy that would put an injured player in for just anything.

Step 3: Do NOT fire Mitch Berger. No he wasn't a "coffin corner" today (whatever the hell that means). His lackluster efforts in his first couple games seem to have stuck with him. Now anything he kicks that doesn't go 80 yards seems to make it open season on him. At this point, I'm indifferent with Berger. Part of that is my lack of concern, and another part of it is the coverage unit around him.

Step 4: Remember. Don't forget who you were the first 6 weeks of the year. You were underdogs in all but one game and that attitude seems to have gone away. There are some players that have even mentioned that they let personal accolades get in the way of team success. That needs to change. Identifying the problem is half the problem, fixing it takes dedication to the team.

Step 5: Punch someone in the mouth. Next time they play (Thanksgiving), I expect the team to come out swinging. Blitz, and blitz some more. The few times Denver's blitz in the game, it usually ended up in a successful defensive play. Mike Nolan can't abandon the blitz because you get burned a couple times on it. That's the nature of the blitz. Sometimes it doesn't work, most times it puts your offense in better positions to be successful.

I know I'm not the only one who feels this way, but I feel this team is slipping further and further into the depths of nothingness. Something needs to happen quickly because the season can change in a matter of two or three weeks as we've all been witness to a time or two. Fortunately for the Broncos, the season can change drastically in either direction good or bad. You want respect? Take it.