“In Sean We Trust” is a misguided mantra in Broncos Country

Blind faith. That’s about the only reason to be optimistic about the Broncos this season.

History certainly suggests that Denver isn’t going to be any good. They haven’t had a winning season since 2016, when they finished 9-7 in pursuit of defending their championship. And they haven’t made the playoffs since the season prior, when they hoisted the Lombardi Trophy after Super Bowl 50.

That was nearly a decade ago. It’s been an unprecedented drought for a once-proud franchise.

But history isn’t the only thing that’s working against the Broncos. The here and now isn’t very promising either.

According to Pro Football Focus, Denver has the worst roster in the NFL heading into the 2024 campaign. To put an even finer point on things, they also have the league’s most-discouraging quarterback situation, which only compounds the overall lack of talent problem.

Add it all up and things look pretty bleak. It feels like the Broncos are embarking on what could be one of the worst seasons in franchise history.

Yet, some people are bullish on Denver. Despite the evidence suggesting that they shouldn’t be, they think it’s going to be a good year in the Mile High City.

Why? Because they have faith in Sean Payton.

To some extent, this makes sense. After all, the Broncos head coach does have an impressive resume.

During his 16 years at the helm in the NFL, 15 in New Orleans and one in Denver, he’s amassed a 160-98 record, which is a .620 winning percentage. He’s led his team to the playoffs nine times. And he has a Super Bowl victory to his name.

That all sounds good. But really, how relevant is it?

Payton’s lone season in Denver wasn’t good. In many ways, it was a disaster. To some extent, his success as a coach feels like it was during another era.

His Super Bowl victory came at the end of the 2009 season. That was 15 years ago.

Since then, Payton is 5-7 in the postseason. At this point, the Broncos would kill for seven playoff exits. But it’s still a long run of mediocrity.

And the most-recent past is even more concerning. During his year-plus on the job in Denver, Payton has had a lot of miscues.

On the field, he’s overseen some debacles. His team lost 70-20 in Miami last season, a historic low point for the franchise, as they gave up more points than any NFL team has since the merger. He called a timeout before a fourth-down punt in Kansas City, allowing the Chiefs to save enough time to kick a field goal before halftime. And he admitted to calling the wrong play because he couldn’t read his play sheet without his glasses.

Yikes. But it doesn’t end there.

Payton said after the season that he and his coaching staff failed to develop rookie wide receiver Marvin Mims. He had an ill-fated preseason interview that made the wrong kinds of headlines, with Payton criticizing his predecessor; a Jets team motivated to vindicate Nathaniel Hackett beat the Broncos last season in Denver. And he went after a media member who dared question him after one of the most-dismal performances in franchise history.

Double yikes.

Given that all of these things have occurred in the past 16 months, it seems ludicrous to give Payton the benefit of the doubt. He’s done nothing since arriving in Denver to earn that grace.

But he gets it. The Payton truthers are on the case on a daily basis.

The Broncos decide to move on from Russell Wilson after the ’23 season, eating an NFL-record $85 million in dead cap over the next two seasons? No problem, say the true believers. Payton believes he can get more than 26 touchdowns to only eight interceptions out of someone else.

After all, he has Jarrett Stidham on the roster. When the Broncos signed the journeyman quarterback to a two-year, $10-million deal prior to last season, it was seen by some as a coup for Payton. Clearly he saw something in the quarterback that others didn’t.

Maybe not. Stidham is now 1-3 as a starting quarterback in the NFL, having thrown just eight touchdowns, while tossing an equaly number of interceptions.

Never fear, the Broncos made a risk-free trade for Zach Wilson prior to the draft. If anyone can get something out of the former No. 2 overall pick, it’s Payton; at least that’s what the apologists said.

Wilson may never take a snap as a Bronco. He wasn’t the “QB of the future” for more than a week in Denver.

That’s because Payton selected Bo Nix with the No. 12 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. The Oregon quarterback fits the Broncos system perfectly say the truthers, as the head coach hoodwinked everyone and got his guy via the sixth quarterback off the board.

Balderdash. Nonsense. BS.

No matter what happens between now and Week 1, two of the three narratives about the Broncos quarterbacks and Payton’s ability to fix the problem that’s plagued the team since Peyton Manning retired will prove to be incorrect. That’s just a fact.

Stidham is a journeyman. Wilson is a bust. Nix was a second-round talent, at best.

Two of those three things will be true. Once a starter is named, 66.7 percent of those comments will become accurate.

And the third might, too. Only time will tell.

None of that will matter, however, if the Broncos hit on Nix. Finding the face of the franchise will trump every misstep; it’ll make up for every blunder.

Could that happen? Sure; it’s possible.

But there’s no reason to think it will. After all, Payton hasn’t shown anything during his time in the Mile High City to suggest that his success in the Big Easy was anything more than ancient history.

Perhaps, the head coach was simply lucky to land Drew Brees. The future Hall-of-Fame quarterback was already successful before he signed with the Saints; he was 30-28 as a starter with the Chargers, earning a Pro Bowl nod during his five years in San Diego.

Did he help Brees? Yep. But did the QB help him? That seems equally as true.

Payton might not have signed a finished product with Brees, but he was far from a rookie. And taking a first-year quarterback and turning them into a star is something the head coach has never done.

Add it all up and it’s ugly. There aren’t a lot of reasons to believe.

Payton inherited a team in decline. He made things worse by moving on from Wilson. He’s added three quarterbacks to the roster that are loaded with question marks. And he’s never developed a young QB into a Pro Bowl-caliber signal caller.

So why on earth are people still bullish on the Broncos? Good question.

They think Payton still has something on his fastball. Despite all sorts of evidence to the contrary, they believe the head coach is still an elite leader.

Reality suggests otherwise. In fact, it provides a bleak forecast for the coming season.

His first year-plus on the job makes it seem crazy that Denver gave up a first-round pick for Payton. It makes his reported five-year, $90-million contract look like a Russell Wilson-esque mistake.

That’s why it makes no sense to be high on the Broncos. Nothing short of homerism would provide a justification for picking Denver to do anything in 2024.

Blind faith is the only reason for optimism in Denver. And that should be running low in Broncos Country.

Follow @jamesmerilatt