The sun did rise in Denver on Monday morning, despite the doom and gloom that Broncos fans were feeling when they went to bed on Sunday night.
It was hard to feel much hope after watching the Broncos take a huge step backward in their loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in overtime.
It wasn’t so much that they lost; it was the way that they lost.
The Broncos battled back from a first half deficit and held an eight-point lead with three minutes to play. They had the lead at home against a division rival with this Orange Crush defense facing Alex Smith, who had struggled all night.
And then the Orange Crush wilted.
They allowed the Chiefs to drive 75 yards for the touchdown and the game-tying two-point conversion.
We can argue about the overtime strategy of Gary Kubiak all day, but make no mistake, this game was lost when the superhero Denver defense suddenly looked mortal. And as painful as the disappearance of that mythical invincibility is, there are now some very real concerns about whether this season is over.
Currently the Denver Broncos are sitting at the dreaded seventh position in the AFC, otherwise known as the first team out of the playoffs. Add into the equation, the fact that the Bronco have lost both of their initial matchups with the Chiefs and the Raiders and you can see why the road to the playoffs will not be easy.
But don’t throw in the towel just yet.
The first thing Denver needs to do is find some consistency in all three phases of their game.
The offense has struggled for much of the season, but even the most ardent Trevor Siemian critic had to admit that the first-year starter showed flashes of brilliance against Kansas City.
Siemian went 20 for 34 for 368 yards and three touchdowns and showed the poise and precision that you want in your starting quarterback. His improvement was greatly aided by the fact that the offensive line began to plug up some major leaks. If the offensive front can start protecting Siemian, this Denver offense is capable of generating some scoring opportunities.
Conversely, though, the vaunted Denver defense has been showing some holes. The Raiders racked up nearly 400 yards against them in Week 9, and while a blocked extra point return was all anyone talked about after the Week 10 win in New Orleans, let’s not forget that Drew Brees had led another 75-yard drive prior to that play.
The Denver defense is committing too many penalties, and they have shown a propensity to wear down late in games. Wade Phillips will need to clean up some of those sloppy errors and begin getting some better production from some players a little deeper on the depth chart. That will keep the starters fresher late in the game.
Finally, the special teams will need to clean up their penalties, and begin taking better care of the football.
If the Broncos can take care of some of those in-house issues, then they can get themselves back into the playoff conversation.
They have winnable games over the next two weeks as they face Jacksonville and Tennessee on the road. They will then close out the regular season with three important AFC games, when they face the New England Patriots and Raiders at home and the Chiefs in Kansas City on Christmas night.
And while the Broncos are sitting at third place in the AFC West, don’t forget that things happen very quickly in the NFL.
Sure, right now, it looks like the Oakland Raiders are in the driver’s seat, but in just two weeks they’ll head to Kansas City and could be swept by the Chiefs who already handled them 26-10 in Oakland.
And we all remember how quickly the Broncos season turned last year.
By beating the Cincinnati Bengals in overtime in Week 16, the Broncos went from a team that might miss the playoffs, to the No. 1 overall seed in the AFC.
The NFL is a week-to-week league, and anything can still happen.
Injuries, upsets and crazy finishes are just the norm when it comes to this game.
The Broncos got knocked down on Sunday night. Now we’ll see if they can get back up and land a few punches of their own.
