Russell Wilson turned 34 at the end of November.
This is not an age where a quarterback should completely drop out. This is why the Broncos He traded several draft picks and players for Wilson and gave him a five-year extension worth more than $240 million.
The trade and the contract could end up ranking among the worst in NFL history. It seems Wilson’s name will forever be cursed in Colorado for setting the franchise back years.
51-14 loss on Sunday to Los Angeles Rams was a low moment for the Broncos in a miserable season since Week 1. Wilson threw interceptions on each of the Broncos’ first two series and both were completely on the quarterback. On one he terribly knocked down a pass, on the other he threw it straight at linebacker Bobby Wagner above the middle.
It was 17-0 shortly after that second interception.
If you want to know what it looks like when a team has completely given up on the season and wants it over, rewatch the Broncos’ effort on Christmas afternoon. A defense that had been good was torn to shreds by the Rams’ JV offense. The Rams had 31 points at halftime. They had scored 31 goals in an entire game once this season. The Rams had 39 points as a quarterback Mayfield Bakerthe first two games for them combined. And Denver was shooting dead almost from the start of the game because the offense couldn’t score. The Broncos trailed 41-6 before the offense scored its first touchdown.
Denver’s Nathaniel Hackett had one of the worst rookie seasons of any head coach in NFL history, and he would infuriate Broncos fans if he returned for a second season. But firing Hackett may not solve Wilson’s problem, which is glaring.
Russell Wilson continues to struggle
Wilson’s early game was so bad that even Patrick Star was making jokes on the Nickelodeon show.
At one point in the third quarter, CBS’ Tracy Wolfson reported that the backup quarterback Brett Rypien He had words with the offensive line on the sideline, and the offensive line warmed up with him. As if the Broncos needed to add “total sideline dysfunction” to their list of woes.
Wilson has been one of the NFL’s worst quarterbacks this season. If you gauge on the curve how much money and resources were spent, Wilson was the worst. When the Broncos acquired him, everyone in Denver was excited. The post-Peyton Manning blues quarterback was finally done. The Broncos would be a contender.
Perhaps the extreme blues at quarterback – their 2016-21 starters were Trevor SiemianPaxton Lynch, Brock Osweiler, Keenum case, Joe Flacco, Draw Lock, Brandon Allen, Jeff Driskel, Brett Rypien and Teddy Bridgewater leads to desperate decisions. Regardless, Hackett’s hire, trade, and Wilson’s contract look like an anchor that will drag the Broncos down for a while.
It’s really bad in Denver and no matter how many times CBS’ Tony Romo has tried to make it look like the Broncos’ future is bright, it’s not. Unless a new head coach can fix Wilson, because that’s what it’s going to take.
The Broncos have an embarrassing loss
The Broncos’ defense hasn’t covered itself in glory either. This group has been good for most of the season. On Sunday, the Broncos made Mayfield look like a superstar.
It’s also hard to blame the Broncos’ defensive players. It must be difficult to keep the advantage when you know that the attack is not going to help at all.
Mayfield was busy. He was 18 of 20 for 185 yards and two touchdowns at halftime. A few more magical minutes in his Rams debut against the Las Vegas Raiders, Mayfield hasn’t been good all season. The Broncos made him look great. Mayfield set a Rams single-game record for completion percentage, breaking Kurt Warner’s former mark. Mayfield was 24 of 28 for 230 yards. He looked better than Wilson at all times this season.
It’s not like the Broncos are going to come back. Wilson threw another terrible interception early in the third quarter, blindly throwing a ball deep into the end zone where he had no open receiver. Jalen Ramsey had an easy interception. The interceptions stand out, but just about every play Wilson had was horrible, a replay of his all-season issues. He held the ball too long and took six sacks. He’s missed too many passes that a $240 million quarterback has to make. With 6:16 to go, after Wilson finally led a touchdown, Rypien entered the game. Rypien threw a pick-six on his first possession.
Even though there were signs of Wilson’s play slipping last season, a slump like this was impossible to predict. There aren’t many quarterbacks in NFL history who went from elite level to utterly incompetent at Wilson’s age. Joe Namath’s regrettable season with the Los Angeles Rams came at age 34. That’s perhaps the best comparison to what we see with Wilson, and that was 45 years ago.
It’s also not a one-year problem. Even if Hackett or general manager George Paton are fired, that doesn’t solve the Wilson problem. Whoever takes over as coach or general manager would be starting in a huge hole that isn’t going away anytime soon.
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