Strike 1: “Always look on the bright side of life…” – Monty Python

That’s easier said than done this week for most of Broncos Country, still smarting from a 31-7 loss to the heavily favored (outside of Denver) Buffalo Bills in the franchise’s first playoff game in nine years.

Obviously, the Broncos have a whole lot of room for improvement before they can go toe-to-toe with the big boys in the AFC. Simply put, the far better roster won that Wild Card playoff game. Yet if you look at the season as a whole, there’s a lot more positives than negatives right now. Denver pretty much beat all the teams they should have this past season, and lost to the teams with better rosters. Nothing to be ashamed of, and there’s good reason to believe that things are trending in the right direction for a change.

So let’s look at the bright side:

First, there’s very little of the “drama” that’s surrounded this franchise since the days following the retirement of Peyton Manning. For instance, “Black Monday” came and went with zero breaking news out of Denver. It’s still to be determined if Deion Sanders remains in the metro area or lands the head coaching gig in Vegas or Dallas, but down at Dove Valley, Broncos head man Sean Payton is comfortably situated in the big chair and will even get some Coach of the Year votes. Payton likely extended his honeymoon phase a bit by taking a team no one thought was talented enough to reach the postseason and delivering an unexpected winning season. While the immediate future of defensive coordinator Vance Joseph is uncertain, there is no head coaching drama surrounding the Broncos for a change. That’s something to be very glad about.

Just as importantly, we aren’t fussing about the quarterback – coach relationship and whether or not Russell Wilson got a fair shake from Payton. We won’t keep hearing or talking about the continuing need to find a “franchise” quarterback for the Broncos for the first time since Manning retired. Funny how issues under center and playoff droughts seem to go hand in hand. Bo Nix is the guy, and the only question prior to next training camp is who will be his backup. You have to expect both Jarrett Stidham and Zach Wilson to look to go elsewhere where they can get some playing time. Shouldn’t be that difficult for Payton and company to find quality replacements.

A team that was said to have the worst roster in the NFL before the season ended up with five guys getting postseason “All-Pro/Pro Bowl” recognition. That’s nothing to sneeze at. While no one is surprised at the great play of Patrick Surtain II and Marvin Mims Jr. – who were both Pro Bowl guys last season – the emergence of draft picks Quinn Meinerz and Nik Bonitto was definitely a bright spot, as was the success of free agent acquisition Zach Allen.

This version of the Broncos front office knows what it’s doing. That alone is a huge breath of fresh air.

Denver goes into the upcoming NFL Draft in April with plenty of needs, obviously, but like most good teams who are drafting in the latter stages of each round, the Broncos can truly go after the best player available. Every team says they’re going to do just that, but teams with needs (especially at QB) almost always reach for a player who doesn’t have a pre-draft grade to match his selection. The Broncos do need a big time running back, and several will be available in this draft. A big play tight end would be nice, too. Otherwise, Denver needs depth – the kind that Buffalo has. Denver doesn’t have to “reach” for players in this draft. They can take what comes to them.

And it’s absolutely a bright spot when your team’s filthy rich owners are talking about potential sites to build a new state of the art football stadium. Losers don’t talk like that. New stadiums mean hosting Super Bowls. How incredibly cool would that be? And Denver has owners now who aren’t just worried about the bottom line; they want to win. The way Pat Bowlen did.

The pieces are all here. Everything is in place. The future is bright.

It’s okay to smile.