The Denver Broncos run at making the postseason officially ended on Christmas night. The Broncos were taken to the woodshed by the Chiefs 33-10, in a soggy mess of a game in Kansas City.
The loss eliminated the Broncos from playoff contention, and begins the long offseason look toward next year and just where everything went so wrong.
It isn’t hard to find the areas that are crucial for improvement.
The Broncos offense has floundered all season behind a dismal offensive line; that will have to be retooled. The running game was non-existent, and there are still questions as to the quarterback position.
The Orange Crush defense has taken a big step backward, and will have to be fortified if this team is going to return to contention next year.
But for all of the obvious flaws that this team has to upgrade, there could be another big dilemma waiting to rear its ugly head.
Could the Broncos coaching situation be less stable than we think?
It was back in Week 5 that doubt began to creep in.
The Broncos were rolling along, undefeated, when the Atlanta Falcons came to town and showed that this 2016 team had some very serious flaws.
Atlanta beat Denver 23-16; following the game, head coach Gary Kubiak was rushed to the hospital with what was later called a complex migraine condition. He would miss the Week 6 loss to the San Diego Chargers in recovery while special teams coach Joe DeCamillis took the reins.
This isn’t the first time that Kubiak has had an issue with his health.
Back in 2013, while coaching the Houston Texans, Kubiak collapsed during a game due to a Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA), which is also referred to as a “mini-stroke.”
So, there was an added measure of worry when Kubiak was hospitalized this year with yet another health problem.
We are certainly hoping that there is nothing more to his health issues and that he is fully capable of getting this team back to championship form.
But there are a few questions that do give us some pause.
Is it just a coincidence that the Broncos struggled following Kubiak’s health scare this season?
After starting off 4-0, this team went just 3-7 in the 10 games following Kubiak’s hospitalization.
And what changed so drastically after that loss to Atlanta?
The Broncos offense went noticeably downhill, dropping from scoring 25 points per game, to just 16.
The Denver defense also stumbled after that Week 5 turning point. The Orange Crush was allowing just 17 points per game, despite facing a potent quarterback lineup of Cam Newton, Andy Dalton, Andrew Luck, Jameis Winston, and Matt Ryan. Yet since Week 5, this unit has given up 20 points per contest, despite the opposing quarterback quality not being quite as strong.
On Sunday night, with the postseason dangling precariously in the balance, the Broncos once again failed to rise to the occasion. They posted one of the worst outings of the season against the Chiefs, and showed very little signs of life on either side of the ball.
Could it be that Gary Kubiak has finished out the 2016 season at significantly less than 100 percent?
There is no question that this team has lacked some fire, and has struggled with execution, the deeper into the season that we have gone.
It is very obvious that the Denver Broncos have a ton of work to do in the offseason. Let’s hope that finding a new head coach isn’t a part of the “to do” list.