Kiszla: Broncos’ best hope is to tank for the privilege of drafting USC quarterback Caleb Williams

Let us pray that the next truly good news for the Broncos will begin with these words: Let the Caleb Williams watch begin. You got a better idea? Broncos coach Sean Payton obviously does not. After blowing an 18-point lead and losing to Washington 35-33 on Sunday, the Broncos’ next destination is Tank City.

With no realistic chance of making the NFL playoffs, it’s time to start dreaming about plucking Williams from the USC roster to finally begin the rebuilding process Denver has delayed for far too long. “We’ve got to keep our foot on their neck,” lamented Denver cornerback Pat Surtain II. The Broncos need to blow it up and start over.

Two games into the Payton era, we can either concentrate on Williams wearing a Denver uniform as the team’s new starting quarterback next season, or wallow in the stench of this orange-and-blue dumpster fire. “We have to be better than that, and that starts with me,” Payton said. After reviewing the videotape of a debacle that dropped Denver’s record to 0-2, Payton needs to look himself in the mirror and ask hard questions: How long will it be before he gets fed up with Wilson’s costly turnovers and inability to break the huddle in a timely fashion before benching the Broncos’ $245 million mistake? If Denver waited at least 16 games too long to fire Vance Joseph as head coach in 2018, is it too early to replace him as defensive coordinator after ruining the reputation of a Broncos defense faster than you can say “Is Sam Howell really Tom Brady 2.

0?” If our old pal Nathaniel Hackett did one of the worst coaching jobs in league history, what is Payton’s excuse for wasting the biggest lead Denver has blown at home since 1995? The one man inside Empower Field at Mile High who could defend Broncos receiver Marvin Mims Jr. , who had two receptions for 113 yards and a touchdown on only two targets, wore a visor on the Denver sideline. You mean to tell me Payton has a play sheet bigger than the menu at Cheesecake Factory and he can’t find Mims’ name on it more than twice? The Broncos scored a touchdown in each of the three possessions that Wilson and his teammates took the field for at the outset of the game, a feat that even Peyton Manning never pulled off at his best with the Broncos.

But after building a 21-3 lead with one second more than nine minutes remaining in the second quarter, the offense inexplicably fizzled until a Hail Mary prayer was answered on the final play of the fourth quarter. In the aftermath, Payton’s frustration with Wilson was so palpable I thought he might spit. Payton cited his quarterback’s fumble in the second quarter as the momentum-turning moment and was so miffed with Wilson’s dawdling getting the Broncos to the line of scrimmage with the play call he threatened to shackle Wilson with a decoder wristband going forward.

I’m not certain if Payton has the patience to make this relationship with Wilson work. Rather than force the issue, maybe Denver should get on the telephone to the New York Jets and offer to reunite DangeRuss with Hackett in exchange for two tickets to Madame Tussauds and a slice of Junior’s cheesecake. Can a Denver defense that surrendered 299 yards and two touchdown passes to Howell in his first road start in the NFL really be considered elite? “Yes, definitely,” Surtain told me.

“We’ve got the right pieces, the right tools, the right scheme. We’ve just got to find a way … because where there’s a way, there’s a will. ” And that’s precisely the problem.

There’s no easy way out of this mess for this franchise, which has overvalued its talent for too long. Maybe the Broncos can’t find the will to win because they can’t see enough talent to make them believe. Surtain is a keeper with Hall of Fame potential.

But outside of him, who on this Denver roster should truly be considered untouchable? I’ll give you safety Justin Simmons as a good answer, but Pro Bowl talent is in short supply elsewhere in the Broncos locker room. This team has nothing meaningful to play for in the present, as the analytics remind us a team that starts the season 0-2 has roughly the same chance of catching lightning in an old bottle of Fresca as making the playoffs. The quickest way to a brighter future is finding at least another dozen losses on the schedule, which could be the winning ticket to drafting Williams.

Huddle up, Broncos Country. And chant it with me:.