After winning six out of their last seven games, the Denver Broncos have now lost two out of their last three after Saturday's Week 15 blowout loss to the Detroit Lions. In fact, both teams had lost two out of their last three, meaning something had to give.
Most believed that Sean Payton in Year 1 has finally helped turn the tide for the Broncos (7-7) after they lost five out of their first six games. Denver had pulled out some major upsets in their seven-game stretch, most notably at home against Kansas City back in Week 8, at Buffalo in Week 10, and at home again against Cleveland in Week 12. But going to Detroit Rock City was a different story.
The Lions (10-4) and Jared Goff were coming off their worst game of the season, suffering a two-score loss to their NFC North rival Chicago Bears. Broncos' fans were probably hoping they were catching the Lions at the right time. They didn't.
At halftime, it was 21-0 Detroit, all of which was scored in the second quarter. It took until 10:41 remaining in the half for Russell Wilson to find Lil'Jordan Humphrey for a three-yard touchdown reception that, after a review, was upheld, giving the Broncos their first score. By that point, it was too little, too late, and Payton had yelled enough at Wilson to chalk this day up as an L.
Is it also too little, too late for this Broncos squad to snag a playoff spot? Today didn't help matters, that's for sure, putting them back at the 11th seed.
So, who's to blame for this Week 15 loss for the Broncos?
The Broncos defense
The Broncos defense allowed Jared Goff to make a comeback after a minor two-week slump. After throwing for one touchdown to two interceptions and only 161 yards last week against the Bears, Goff threw five touchdowns to no interceptions in Week 15 for 278 yards. Sam LaPorta, who is becoming one of the best tight ends in the league in his rookie season, caught three of those.
But the Broncos didn't exactly do any better stopping the run. They allowed Jahmyr Gibbs to rush for 100 yards in just 11 carries with a touchdown, and David Montgomery 85 yards in 17 carries for a combined 6.6 yards per carry. The Broncos defense allowed 448 yards of total offense and allowed the Lions to score in all six red-zone opportunities.
Russell Wilson, Quinn Meinerz, and the offense
Even though he's probably been yelled at enough today, Wilson has to take on this blame as the facilitator of the offense. But no one was exactly standing out on that side of the ball today.
In the first half, where the Broncos were held scoreless, they were 1 of 6 on third down and had just 75 yards of offense. It was also on the first Broncos possession where Wilson lost a fumble. However, the veteran quarterback finished the day 18-of-32 for 223 yards with one touchdown pass and one rushing touchdown.
But perhaps even more unfairly for blaming Wilson — hey, someone's got to take the blame, right? — is offensive lineman Quinn Meinerz.
With a chance to make it at least an 11-point game in the third quarter, the Broncos went for it on fourth-and-goal at the Lions 5. Michael Burton would end up scoring, but it would get negated after refs said that Meinerz was offsides. The end result ended with a Broncos field goal instead and really ended all hopes for any sort of comeback.
This is what led to Payton's outburst on Wilson, who then laid into the refs, and probably for a good reason. Replays later showed that Meinerz wasn't offsides, and that the score should have counted.
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