Sunday was the bitter end.
In a game that didn’t matter, between teams whose rivalry has become irrelevant, before a silent cardboard crowd, the Broncos arrived at an unhappy new year with their 20th defeat in two seasons, the second 5-11 record in four seasons and the 48th loss in the franchise’s past 78 games.
If this were soccer’s Premier League, the Broncos would deserve to be relegated to the junior varsity league. If the Broncos had an owner, heads would roll again. If the Broncos were sincere, they would apologize to everyone in Colorado.
Instead, they will just wait till next season.
After losing their first home game against a team from Las Vegas, the Broncos finished 1-5 in the AFC West Division and in last place, and 2-6 at home bleat home.
In his 2020 season-culminating conference with the media Monday, John Elway will tell us all what went wrong and what went right. The left side of the ledger will be full, the right side not so much. (At the time of publication, Elway had yet to step down as GM)
But he should start the conversation with the names Justin Simmons and Von Miller.
Remarkably, Simmons has been on the field for every Broncos defensive play over three seasons.
But Sunday’s useless game could have included the last Broncos’ snap for the Pro Bowl safety, who intercepted a record fifth pass this season in the defeat to the Raiders.
Simmons will be an unrestricted free agent in 2021.
Justin is “a guy we all want back in our plans,’’ Vic Fangio said once darkness had descended on Denver on Sunday evening.
Unlike Simmons, Miller hasn’t played a down of football.
Perhaps he never plays another game again the Broncos.
Shelby Harris, who was placed on injured reserve last week, probably will be gone, along with outside linebacker Jeremiah Attaochu and former Broncos draft picks DeMarcus Walker, Will Parks (a second time) and Jake “We Hardly Knew Ye’’ Butt.
Garett Bolles, who has signed an expensive extension, might become the only Broncos’ player remaining from the 2011-2017 drafts.
The Broncos will bring back 20 players who were selected in the past three years. Ten will be from the 2020 draft.
At least a dozen starters next season will be John Elway’s prized possessions.
But it would be appalling if the Broncos allowed the two best picks in the Elway Era — Miller and Simmons — to escape, especially for nothing, in the Elway Errors.
Elway knows — and must emphasize Monday that he will do everything in his powerful position to make sure both will be back.
Von and Justin would prefer to be Broncos lifers, spending their entire careers in Denver as John did. They have been just as valuable to the community as they have @Mile High Stadium.
The Broncos, who have a club option on Miller for ’21, should extend his deal for another four years and also sign Simmons to a six-year contract.
If those two agreements aren’t accomplished, the BlunderBroncos will prove that the franchise is weak and not contention worthy, playing with scared money, not following the win-yearly-at-all-cost philosophy of the late Pat Bowlen and has no real ownership with the Bowlen trustees and the family feud.
Elway first told me years ago that the Broncs were “playing for now and now on.’’
Now has passed with four straight years of ludicrous losing. What about now on?
Do the Broncos blow a 2021 opportunity when the team could be composed of a 53-man roster with more than half who were draft choices? The Broncos already have nine selections in the next draft — their seven and two additional seventh-round picks as the result of trades — and could receive two to three more compensation picks.
The Broncos will possess an abundancy of young talent, but they need their two strongest leaders — Miller and Simmons. Who else do we trust as head horsemen — Drew Lock, scrambling to establish himself as a genuine starting quarterback, and Bradley Chubb? Most of the Broncos are lemmings.
Don’t let the duo go, Boss Bronco.
The Broncos have ended with 11 losses for the seventh time in franchise history. Enough.
This must not be the end, though, but, rather, the beginning.
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