Broncos Defense Isn't Enough with Trio of Bad QBs Dragging Team Down

It was easy to watch the Denver Broncos' 21-0 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday and forget there was a team on the field only one season removed from a championship.

As the Broncos slogged through their third loss in the last four games, it was even easier to see the problem: Trevor Siemian.

Seeing the solution, however, is another matter.

Cries for quarterback benchings are as much a part of each NFL season as Ed Hochuli's biceps, and wondering what a catch is by the modern definition.

But that's merely the first move in a two-step process. If a team is making the decision to bench anyone, there has to be an upgrade waiting in the depth chart. Which is why the Broncos' problem at the most important position in football isn't actually Siemian. No, it's that Siemian is their best option.

The only viable starting quarterback available to an otherwise talented team was responsible for two turnovers in a shutout loss Sunday. Siemian also held onto the ball too long and took five sacks, and he averaged only 5.9 yards per pass attempt. Sunday marked his sixth start of the season, and the third time he's failed to throw for even 220 yards (he finished with 207 yards against the Chargers).

Worse, Week 7 was also Siemian's second game in 2017 without a touchdown pass. He's thrown only two over his last four games, and during the same stretch, the Broncos offense has recorded just three touchdowns overall.

There's nothing but doom and darkness surrounding the seventh-round pick who was once thought of as a passable babysitter for an offense fueled by rushing, and a team that wins through defense. Winning is exceedingly difficult for any team when the offense is averaging 10.5 points, as the Broncos have since Week 3.

Winning also becomes damn near impossible when the starting quarterback throws an interception on a ball intended for, well, who?

The Broncos had a chance late in the fourth quarter Sunday. They trailed by two touchdowns, but had advanced to the Chargers' 31-yard line.

Siemian had to be smart and make a clutch throw on 4th-and-6. Instead, he became frantic when pressured, made a poor decision and lobbed the ball well over the head of Demaryius Thomas, who was presumably the intended target.

On the ensuing drive, Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers connected with wide receiver Travis Benjamin for a 42-yard touchdown. Just like that, the Broncos fell to an even 3-3 record as midseason approaches. They are 1.5 games back of the AFC West leading Kansas City Chiefs.

The only way to claw back into playoff contention is to get even adequate play from the quarterback position. That's often all the Broncos need, because they still have a swarming defense giving up only 19.7 points per game. It's a unit powered by outside linebacker Von Miller's ferocious pass-rushing skills. After two more Sunday he's recorded seven sacks over six games.

But if Siemian, who has thrown seven interceptions already, can't meet the low bar for satisfactory play, then who can on the flawed foster constructed by John Elway?

The answer is no one, and definitely not Brock Osweiler. Yet strangely, memories are short and selective, and we live in world where he's seen as an apparent savior.

Maybe the Broncos will reach anyone-but-Siemian territory and trot Osweiler out just to try something else.

But please recall how his last run with the Broncos ended. That came in 2015, and he was benched for a rapidly aging Peyton Manning who threw 17 regular-season interceptions.

Also please remember that late in 2016, the Houston Texans gave Osweiler his second benching in two years. It came as they were pushing for a playoff spot, and this time Osweiler wasn't replaced by an aging legend. No, the Texans considered Tom Savage the better option. Yes, the same Tom Savage who lasted one half in 2017 before getting yanked in favor of Deshaun Watson.

Osweiler had no sense of timing or feel for the pocket in 2016 when he scattered throws everywhere. That resulted in 16 interceptions, and lowly averages of 5.8 yards per attempt and 197.1 yards per game.

The nicest anyone can possibly be when describing Osweiler's best quarterback attribute is to say that he's tall. Which is true of the 6'7" passer, and that's never translated to anything meaningful on an NFL field.

Beyond Osweiler, there's Paxton Lynch on the Broncos' quarterback depth chart, and he's quickly plummeting toward first-round bust status.

Eric Risberg/Associated Press

Lynch isn't healthy quite yet after suffering a shoulder sprain late in training camp. He's not far off, but the Broncos aren't rushing him along.

"He's getting better by the day," head coach Vance Joseph said Thursday, via Jon Heath of BroncosWire. "He's still a little sore after he throws, so it's not totally healed yet. We're going to take it slow with him to make sure he's right before he comes back to play."

But even after he's fully mended, Lynch will not be a hero set to rise from the depth-chart ashes, either. He averaged a laughable 3.8 yards per attempt in the preseason, with many of those throws coming against second- and third-team defenses. And as a rookie in 2016, he finished with a passer rating of 79.2 while landing with a thud during his two starts, which included a 4.3 YPA in Week 13.

There is no magical midseason quarterback move available to the Broncos. Well, there isn't one on their roster at least, and merely mentioning Colin Kaepernick's name has two outcomes: Yelling from all sides, and a reminder that QB-needy NFL teams (the Broncos included) are willfully making their rosters worse by not signing him.

The declining play and losing will likely continue for the Broncos, a team that can't be carried solely by its defense anymore, and that is too limited offensively by below-replacement-level quarterbacks.

Often, the Broncos remind us that wanting to toss the starter aside is the easy part. Inserting another who doesn't make you cringe all game is much harder.