When it comes to the National Football League, ending the season on a hot streak is a plus; a final burst of optimism for the fan base that will last them until the next fall.
The Broncos are supplying just that, but unfortunately for them, their cold streak was so long that getting hot right now doesn’t change anything other than the feeling in the locker room and the 2018 draft order.
While it’s been nice for both the players and the fans to see the Broncos string a few wins together for the first time in two months, you can’t help but wonder how the train got so far off the tracks during the middle of the season.
Winning cures all in the NFL, but head coach Vance Joseph admitted on Friday that the last two wins have left him with a different feeling than wins usually have in the past.
“It is bittersweet for me, because it’s what we’ve coached and preached the entire season,” Joseph said. “To finally see it the last two weeks, it’s good, but it could’ve been six weeks ago, seven weeks ago. It’s bittersweet, but I’m happy for the players. No one stopped working and no one stopped believing. Even to win two games in five days and play a Thursday night game — out of the playoffs, guys are sore, but guys pushed through. Everyone embraced the Thursday night game and it was a good night for us. That was fun to see the guys play so hard.”
While looking at a middling AFC West, Joseph is hardly alone is lamenting the missed opportunity; all the players, coaches and the fans feel similarly. The Broncos finally found the winning formula they’d been searching for all season, but when it finally arrived, it was already too late. The Broncos are used to getting hot right about now in order to make a push for playoff seeding, instead of knowing they’ll have to watch them on television.
“Like I said, it just sucks when you look forward to playing in January in those big games and win the AFC Championship, but we can’t look forward to it,” cornerback Chris Harris Jr. said on Monday. “We’re just trying to have fun playing football the last two games and finish as strong as possible.”
While the 2017 season has been a disappointing one, the fight the players have shown even after their playoff chances were vanishing have been encouraging. Finishing strong and carrying a little momentum into next year could be important when 2018 rolls around.
“I’m just doing whatever I can for the team these last two weeks so we can try to end on a four-game win streak,” wide receiver Jordan Taylor said on Monday. “I know it doesn’t — in the grand scheme of things — mean a whole lot for this year, but it could get some momentum going in the next year. That’s what we’re working on.”
There hasn’t been much for Broncos Country to get excited about in 2017, but after the awful two-month stretch the Broncos embarked on in the middle of the season, seven wins would be nice to see. Expectations were high for 2017, but they always are in Denver. If you find yourself wondering about what the future hold for the Broncos, Joseph has a message for you: “My message would simply be something good is happening here. The more we figure out our formula to win, it’s going to be better for us here,” Joseph said on Friday. “I’ve been proud of the players for how engaged they’ve been and how hard they’ve worked. We have a good team. We have a good locker room. It’s not perfect. We have to fix some things in the offseason, but it’s a special group of people here. It’s going to get fixed. I promise.”
