Broncos now face decision time after gift-wrapping loss that virtually ends playoff hopes

DENVER — For three quarters Sunday night, the Broncos were as forlorn and bereft as Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree. In the fourth quarter, they were Charlie Brown trying to kick the football.

And at the end, with a potential Christmas miracle in their grasp, Patriots coach Bill Belichick took the two timeouts called by the Broncos in the game’s final moments and pulled away the football, extinguishing the Broncos’ hopes of a Christmas Eve comeback — and a season-long comeback for the ages.

Until Sunday night’s 26-23 defeat, the Broncos’ revival from a 1-5 start had been defined by their ability to take care of business against teams with injury woes, while also playing mistake-free football to take down superior teams — specifically Kansas City and Buffalo in games bracketing the bye.

Since emerging from the morass of their poor start, the Broncos had cleanly dispatched of teams like the previously 3-11 Patriots.

Until Christmas Eve.

“We had everything to play for, and we knew that,” edge rusher Jonathon Cooper said. “And we’re at home.

“We can’t lose games at home — especially this stretch in December. It sucks.”

“Definitely a game we should have won,” added running back Javonte Williams, who scored a touchdown but largely struggled, finishing with fewer than 4.0 yards per carry for the eighth-straight game.

BRONCOS PLAYED SANTA CLAUS, GIVING PATS GIFTS

Since Week 8, New England entered Sunday having won a single game. That triumph, on Dec. 7 at Pittsburgh, came in part because Steelers quarterback Mitchell Trubisky gift-wrapped the game with errant throws, including an interception that led to a short-field touchdown.

The packaging was different this time. But the result was the same. The Broncos put gifts under the Patriots’ tree, and they were only to happy to open them.

Start with their first offensive series — when the Broncos were in first-and-goal after D.J. Jones’ strip-sack-fumble-recovery at the New England 6-yard line on the first play from scrimmage. Three Javonte Williams runs netted just 5 yards, and in the midst of that goal-to-go failure, Russell Wilson rolled out, lobbed it into the end zone and nearly had it intercepted.

So, the Broncos started the game with one self-inflicted wound. By going for it on fourth down, they gambled on getting seven points, costing themselves three that could have proved valuable later.

They ended it with another gift. With New England content to run out the clock in regulation and play for overtime, the Broncos used two timeouts after a pair of Ezekiel Elliott runs in the game’s final minute. Then, Patriots quarterback Bailey Zappe pounced, hitting DeVante Parker for 27 yards down the left sideline despite tight coverage from Pat Surtain II.

Two short passes and a spike later, Patriots kicker Chad Ryland slammed home the game-winning, 56-yard field goal — a kick that wouldn’t have happened without the Broncos stopping the clock.

“We felt like we would get the stop,” Payton said. “We were not able to.”

He gambled. He lost. It turned into another Belichick-bound gift.

In between came Marvin Mims Jr.’s fumbled kickoff that Cody Davis recovered for a touchdown. As was the case for the Patriots in Pittsburgh, a crucial giveaway effectively gave New England seven points.

“I felt like, personally, I blew it,” Mims said, absorbing responsibility,. “That’s a 14-point swing. It cost us at the end.”

He took the blame for that.

But as the bookend mistakes showed, he wasn’t alone. The culpability went all around — to the sideline, the offense which spent three quarters moving as though mired in drying concrete, and a defense which couldn’t get the big stop when it was needed most — and ultimately conceded 19 points to a Patriots offense that entered the game accounting for just 13.1 points a game.

“We didn’t execute as a defense down the stretch there. That’s what stings the most,” safety Justin Simmons said.

Tonight encapsulated the season, and now, with playoff hopes virtually extinguished, the conversation will now turn to Russell Wilson and what the Broncos’ plans are going forward.

My postgame wrap from a frosty @EmpowerField: pic.twitter.com/hj0WJx8YRw

— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) December 25, 2023

THE CONVERSATION WILL TURN TO RUSSELL WILSON

His passer rating says it was a good night — a 103.2 rating, thanks to his work throughout the fourth quarter when the Broncos accelerated into comeback mode. But until then, Wilson — and the Broncos offense — were stuck in neutral, with just an 81.9 rating and an average of only 1.46 yards per pass play when factoring in yardage lost to sacks.

Wilson insisted after the game that he wasn’t pondering his future.

“I’m just worried about next week and playing great football,” he said.

And that sort of mindset is crucial to success in the NFL. Keeping the focus distilled only to what is immediately in front. But the terms of Wilson’s contract mean that the time for the conversation about his future is nigh.

The $37 million in guaranteed salary for 2025 — which kicks in if he is on the roster of the fifth day of the 2024 league year, which comes March 17 — is also guaranteed for injury. Which means if Wilson gets injured in the next two games — which could be mathematically meaningless if early results go against the Broncos next Sunday — the Broncos would be on the hook, and a decision would be made for them.

The $37 million clause also means that if the Broncos cut him after 2024, they would absorb an $86.6 million cap hit — even more than the $85 million that would accelerate if they cut him before March 17.

The Broncos’ playoff hopes virtually died Sunday. And they perished for reasons beyond the quarterback.

Which means the time for the difficult discussion is bearing down upon Payton and the Broncos.

Their season might be fading into oblivion, but the most crucial juncture to determining their future could be just beginning.