First, this was originally written as a comment to a post about last nights game and how if we had Cutler we wouldn't have had a problem with those 3 and outs because of how great his long game is.  The comment I made in rebuttal was too long and I decided to post it here.

Oh how quickly we forget the bad.  I for one am tired of hearing about how we lost the franchise by losing Jay.  How McD ruined the organization even though it was Pat Bowlen who made the decision to trade Jay away while Josh was willing to make amends as long as there was a 2 way committment which Jay (who had been wanting out of Denver even before McD) was not willing to make.  And I am also tired of hearing how we are a worse team without Jay at the helm.  Do people forget how poorly we finished the season last year with our "stronger arm than Elway" QB?  Yes the D was atrocious and greatly contributed to the demise but while our D was so bad (I won't even break them down because it is a unanimous view) was our offense so great?  Aside from the first few games of the season our Offense became predictable and stale.  Let us go back just less than a year ago and remember shall we?

Week 15 at Carolina.  Final score 10-30.  We only made it into the Red Zone twice...TWICE!!  Our rush ypa was at a high 5.3 yet we could only get to the redzone twice?  Jay threw an interception in the RED ZONE. and passed for a mighty 4.4 yards per attempt.  Third down efficiency was 46%.  RZ efficiency was 50%.  Here is the breakdown on TOP:

Total possessions:  11
1 Ended in FG
1 ended in a Missed FG
1 ended in an INT (in the RZ)
1 ended in a TD
1 ended in a Fumble
5 ended in a 3 & out.

You call that an exciting and explosive offense?  Hmmm, guess we have forgotten how vincible Jay is.  Why didn't he carry our team then?  Everyone will blame defense but we weren't even competitive.  If he was the amazing HOF lock eveyone thinks he is why didn't he have more success on the offensive side of the ball.  I am not blaming him for losing us that game.  With a combination of coaching, playcalling and lack of effort I contribute it to a team effort.

Week 16 Bills at Broncos 30-23.  We stayed more competitive in this game but our 3rd down efficiency was again 50% just as in the previous week.  Our yards per rush was a stellar 6.7 for a total of 181 yards.  Jay passed for 359 yards on 25 of 45 passing with an interception (that interception came in the red zone in the 4th quarter on 3rd and long and a score - or a 1st down most likely-  would have tied us the game) and 0 TDs through the air (2 on the ground).  So why didn't we win?  Our RZ efficiency was 33% that's why (we made it there 6 times and only scored twice).  We even held the ball 7 minutes longer in the game.  TOP breakdown.

Total Possessions:  10
2 TDs
3 FGs
1 missed FG
1 end of half/turnover
1 Fumble
1 INT in RZ
1 4 and out.

Week 17 at Chargers:  Final score 21-52.  I don't even want to go here but Jay threw 2 picks (one was intercepted in the red zone the other on our own 18 on 1st and 10).  Pass yards per attempt was 6.4.  Rush yards was 9 ypa but we were behind so we threw it 49 times (after the first quarter it was 6-17).  Our 3rd down efficiency was 37% and our Redzone efficiency was 0/2 which equals 0%. We had 10 total possessions with a breakdown as follows.

3 ended in TDs
2 ended in INTs (1 in RZ)
2 Ended in 3 and out
2 ended in 4 and out
1 ended in a FG
1 to end the game (time ran out)
 
INTs where they hurt the most, Bad play calling and not great play in the RZ.  These are the things the new regime is trying to eliminate.  These are the problems Josh McD saw that so many fans are blind to.  We should have made the playoffs last year but we can't just blame the Defense.  We had the offense and the weapons and the incredible O-line to do it, to at least stay in it but even with Cutler we couldn't stay in it.  The direction we are heading in is the right direction no matter what people in love with Cutler say.  Orten can certainly do just as well as Cutler did last year.  Maybe he won't throw for 4,500 yards but then again, that didn't seem to help us out much did it?