Instant Reaction: Russell Wilson and Broncos offense disappear in loss to Chiefs

The Denver Broncos did what most all of their fans expected them to do and lost on the road to the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday Night Football by a score of 19-8.

It’s the sixteenth game in a row the Chiefs have beaten the Broncos and just another week of them finding ways to look even worse than we actually thought they were in the first place. They are now 1-5 on the season and are inching closer to securing a top draft selection with every embarrassing loss they accrue.

While Vance Joseph and his defense have garnered most of the criticism from analysts and pundits to begin the season—that certainly wasn’t the case tonight. Let’s be 100-percent honest with ourselves, Broncos Country. They actually did a pretty decent job keeping the Chiefs offense in check and making them settle for field goals instead of touchdowns.

The majority of the blame for tonight’s loss deservedly belongs to the offense. That isn’t even debatable. Truth be told, outside about six or seven quarters of play the entire season, the Broncos offense has been woefully inconsistent and just as frustrating to watch. Tonight was no exception and their lackluster effort on that side of the ball was an unmitigated disaster.

The passing game was bottom-of-the-barrel pathetic. In fact, Travis Kelce had more receiving yards in the first half than the entire Broncos offense did. How pathetic is that?

Russell Wilson was 7/11 for 37 yards and an interception in the first half. He finished the game going 12/21 for 94 yards, 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions. He looked lost, out of touch, and hesitant to fire the ball down the field.

$250 million dollars or so for that? Terrible.

It didn’t matter if it was third or fourth down. When putting the ball in the air was the obvious move—time after time—he felt the need to tuck it and run. Did he ever think about climbing the pocket and letting it rip down the field? Did he all of a sudden forget the basics of playing quarterback? I have no idea, but his poor play tonight was absolutely maddening.

It also was emblematic of why the franchise needs to seriously consider moving on from him at year’s end. The team can’t even operate a standard passing game with three and five-step drops with him at the helm. All these playing getting him out on the move? They aren’t really working. Teams have already started to figure that out.

You know what was really frustrating about the offense? The running game was relatively effective, but largely ignored and abandoned by Head Coach Sean Payton until it was too late. Jaleel McLaughlin, Javonte Williams and Samaje Perine were averaging nearly 7 yards per carry in the first half. In my opinion, it was easily called one of the worst games of his entire coaching career.

Before their touchdown drive with under seven minutes to go in the fourth quarter this is what Denver’s offensive drive chart looked like:

That’s certainly not anything any of us would ever write home about. Don’t forget that the Broncos traded three first-round picks, three second-round picks, and spent hundreds of millions of dollars to have Wilson and Payton leading the way on offense. I wonder ownership is starting to have some buyer’s remorse. My guess would be yes.

There are ten days before their next game against the Green Bay Packers. That would be an ideal time to start a comprehensive overhaul of a franchise that has completely lost its way. They need to trade whoever they can for whatever they can, because it’s quite clear this team is a long way away from being relevant in the National Football League.