FanPost

Some Perspective on Our Frustration


During my days in the U.S. Southwest, when I lived in Tucson, Ariz., El Paso, Texas and Safford, Ariz. over the course of two years, I learned a valuable adage: time heals all wounds.

Obviously, the Broncos have had their bye week and after you leave frustration for a time, everything seems to be much clearer.

With that said, we know we are 2-6 but with the exception of the Raiders game (wherein I was positively frustrated) and the Ravens game, which saw our Broncos get manhandled, we had a shot to win in all of our other games thus far.

However, sometimes things just don't go right, no matter how well you plan them.

I have had Broncos-type futility and aggravation this past week as my trusty laptop developed a short in the plug connecting to the power supply.

Thus, at work, I have to labor on a PC, which really sucks for the record when you become quite attached to your laptop.

The Broncos this season are an apt allegory for my laptop.

All the pieces are in place theoretically with a few slight mishaps (untimely turnovers and penalties, sporadic offensive, defensive and special teams play and several serious injuries) but for whatever reason things never come together.

I had to have a new adapter ordered and the Broncos need some infusion of new blood via the draft and judicious choices in free agency next season.

Nevertheless, my laptop, while not perfect, will be in working order by next week for sure.

This can also be true for the Broncos.

We have the potential to play much better than we are and still when I watch film (Tivoing games is a MAJOR plus), I see things that are easily correctable.

Of course, in a game rife with physical prowess and skill, the mental component is easily the most important in football.

Thus, with the bye taking place, I hope all 53 men in orange and blue took some time to wind down and reflect upon what they can do better.

With 5 divisional games left, I refuse to say this season is lost.

Now, in the part of my article appertaining to my headline, I will try to handle this as appropriately and professionally as possible.

For years, the Broncos have been in playoff contention, even in those situations of late where we have choked away 3 or 4-game leads in divisional play.

Thus, it is a bit exasperating for all of us to see what has transpired thus far this season.

As great poster LaFrench mentioned on HorseTracks, only once in the past 20 years have the Broncos been a team to win less than 5 games (that was in 1990 and as a young boy of 8 years old, it made me feel really sad, sometimes photographic memories suck, just so you know).

To put that in proper perspective, the only other teams (yes, this includes expansion teams) to have comparable success in winning at least five games in the same span are the Vikings and Steelers.

As those of us who try to be illustrious NFL historians know, the Broncos, Vikings and Steelers (since the merger as Chris Berman always likes to say) are all Top 6 teams in overall winning percentage.

Despite our success, sometimes it feels like we're sucking because we get so much negative backlash from fans of other franchises, at least I have through the years.

Here in Utah, it's a Broncos fans' paradise as through the years, KSL-Channel 5 and KUTV-Channel 2 of Salt Lake City have aired Broncos games perpetually every Sunday with a few select exceptions.

However, there is a flip side to the coin in this instance, as there always is.

As a Broncos fan, my "friends" at school and church, were always swift to jump on me in those select cases where the Broncos lost.

Like most people of Italian extraction (some good British, Danish and Scottish in there as well!), I put passion into everything I do whether it be yardwork, studies (when I was in college), my conventional job and of course, my Broncos!

The fact that I would cry after losses when I was little and would get really frustrated as an adolescent/young adult made me a target for the ridicule of others, especially those NFL Utahn fans who said I wish that Channel 2 and Channel 5 wouldn't air Broncos games any more.

Thus, yes, of course, whenever we lose a game, the backlash from the media and those in my community makes it seem as if we lost 10 games that week.

It is disheartening to see Peyton Hillis and others, such as Phonz, leave and have success elsewhere but I still have confidence in McDaniels and this core, until we are able to enhance ourselves in April through the draft and perhaps in free agency.

I, in my most propitious outlook, hope to see the Broncos run the gamut in their last eight games and win 10, but if not, I do believe we'll see vast improvement in one way or another.

The future is bright and it starts Sunday at 2:05 MST against the Kansas City Chiefs (there, I did that JUST for CPT. Caveman!).

Let's do our best this season and go from there.

I bleed orange and blue until I die and there's still much more success to be had both this year and in the future from my Broncos.

Thanks for reading and GO BRONCOS!!!

This is a Fan-Created Comment on MileHighReport.com. The opinion here is not necessarily shared by the editorial staff of MHR.