ANALYSIS: Another losing season for Broncos after Christmas Eve dud

Dec 24, 2018, 10:25 PM | Updated: 11:26 pm

DenverFan.com

The Denver Broncos delivered a Christmas Eve dud in a road loss against the Oakland Raiders on Monday night, 27-14. Here’s how the 104.3 The Fan staff reacted:

DMac (“The Drive”)”

In 1972, the Denver Broncos had back-to-back losing seasons. They haven’t accomplished that dubious feat since Christmas Eve 2018.

Although they rallied a bit, at the end of the day the Broncos lost to their bitter rival and, unquestionably, one of the worst teams in the NFL, the Oakland Raiders.

Denver lost to a team that got rid of a generational pass rusher and its best wide receiver. They lost.

They lost to a team that was missing its starting cornerbacks and a collective pass rush that had only grabbed 12 sacks the entire year. That’s right, Bradley Chubb had more sacks before the game started than the entire Raiders defense.

They lost to a team that was most likely playing its last game ever in its horrific stadium, which on Monday night glowed like an imperial palace.

Nothing was good enough. The offense wasn’t good enough, especially the quarterback. The defense wasn’t good enough, especially Von Miller (who should be traded, but more on that later). The special teams gave up one of the most bizarre touchdowns in NFL history — a play that defies explanation except to say it was horrific.

Raiders owner Mark Davis sat there with his bowl haircut and lorded supreme over Broncos general manager John Elway and his Isotoners. By the way, it rained a bit, but gloves? Really? By the end of the game, it was 55 degrees. Was the luxury box doubling as a freezer?

There is no doubt about it, Santa was dumping nothing but coal down the Broncos chimney. I get it. It’s better if they lose, but did they have to look that bad?

Head coach Vance Joseph will be fired. So what? Quarterback Case Keenum will be replaced. And? The issues with the Broncos run so much deeper. It’s mindboggling. I’m not even sure where to start.

If there’s not change, and I mean significant change, in management, and soon ownership, then the rest is window dressing.

The Broncos gave the pathetic Raiders a gift for all time.

Ho ho ho.

Mike Pritchard (“Pritchard and Cecil”):

With the football world watching Monday Night Football on Christmas Eve, the Denver Broncos looked really old, really slow, and totally uninspired against the Raiders.

The road back to respectability just got a little bit longer for the Broncos after this embarrassing loss.

Brandon Stokley (“Stokley and Zach”):

Today, disappointing. Just really disappointing. I think it sums up the season, the way they played in the first half.

The first touchdown for the Raiders was just ridiculous. That pretty much summed up things also.

The last three games, in general, were disappointing. You’re in great position to have a great run there, then you lose to San Francisco, Cleveland, and Oakland.

Just a bad, bad season that has just gotten worse, which is hard to believe here in the past few weeks.