NASHVILLE, Tenn. _ It's too bad.
It's too bad, because healthy Trevor Siemian showed again he's plenty good enough to help a team win a playoff game or three. There's a name for folks who can't appreciate the 24-year-old quarterbacks performance on Sunday: Scrooge. It's too bad, because the Broncos defense is talented and defiant enough to scare the Christmas sweater off Handsome Tom and the Patriots, no matter if the game is held in Foxboro, Mile High or on the moon.
It's too bad, because the Broncos remain a team nobody wants to see in the postseason, because you never want to play a champ in the postseason.
But after Sunday's 13-10 loss to the Titans on a hot-tempered afternoon at Nissan Stadium, it's no certainty the reigning Super Bowl champs will even reach the playoffs. And that's too bad.
"From the outside looking in, people are going to say it doesn't look good," coach Gary Kubiak said with bags hanging from under his eyes. "I've been through a hell of a lot worse."
The Broncos aren't done yet. That's what they say, at least, and I've seen them go down swinging too often to dismiss their bravado off-hand. Siemian said they have "the right guys in the locker room" for a late surge into the postseason. The defense said it has a bone to pick with the three villains left on the schedule _ the Patriots, Chiefs, Raiders and their 30-8 record. Yes, the Broncos will close the season against the three best teams in the AFC.
And yet?
"I'm telling you," defensive lineman Derek Wolfe told me. "It's not over yet."
Here's the thing: I would embrace their gusto if not for one thing. But it's a big thing. It's a 1,500-pound thing. It's a thing that only can be fixed through free agency, the NFL draft or the second miracle in the month of December. The Broncos' offensive line is that thing.
Sunday was Week 14 of the season, and a problem rarely thought to be a problem in July could prevent the Broncos from playing in January. The offensive line seems capable of opening two kinds of holes: the kind that allows 2-yard gains and the kind that allows defenders to pummel Siemian, Paxton Lynch or any other poor sap who steps behind it into the turf.
And that's too bad. It's too bad because the two things largely considered to be the most important aspects of a quality team appear to be in place. Siemian outshined another highly paid or well-thought-of quarterback, putting Tennessee's Marcus Mariota alongside Cam Newton, Andy Dalton, Alex Smith and Brock Osweiler.
Siemian completed 25 of 41 passes for 334 yards. Mariota? Six completions for 88 yards.
"You serious?" Broncos safety T.J. Ward said when I told him about the 88 yards.
Dead serious.
"Damn," Ward said.
Exactly. Damn. It's too bad. Because this would be a titanic _ sorry _ waste of a season. After allowing a long touchdown drive to open the game, the Broncos defense made Mariota look like he still belonged in the Pac-12. They allowed 4.2 yards per carry, below Tennessee's 4.8 average, which ranks third in the NFL. They forced seven punts. When Chris Harris Jr. took a cheap shot from Titans wideout Harry Douglas, they did the right thing at the wrong time, Aqib Talib going after Douglas and inciting a brawl in front of the Titans' bench.
"I'm gonna kick his (backside)," Talib said of their next meeting.
I suggest Talib should have waited to retaliate until 68,780 sets of eyeballs weren't watching the next snap to see if Talib would have his college and NFL teammate's back, but hey.
"I've never had someone try to end my career like that," said Harris, who returned to the game but boarded the bus in sweatpants, "too sore" to change clothes again.
I think the Broncos will get in the playoffs. The teams in pursuit of the No. 6 seed in the AFC are deer, not wolves. And no team in the AFC wants to face a defense built on talent, pride and a short temper that runs hot. But the Broncos aren't winning it all again.
Not with this offensive line.
The Broncos will make this interesting, because that's what they do. They are a Hollywood blockbuster, jam-packed with enough explosions and sexy stars to fix eyes on the big screen to take our minds off the absence of a solid plot. In their case, the plot is an offensive line that is paid less than all but two teams (Seahawks, Giants). You get what you pay for.
You can't fault the line for its shortcomings; that's like blaming the college point guard who's stinking up the gym but is there because the coach recruited him. Theirs is a trial-by-fire experiment that's blowing up in the team's face at the worst possible time.
"We've got the right group to do it with," Siemian said, speaking of the team as a whole. "It's going to be an awesome challenge."
Is it over yet? No, the Broncos will keep this interesting. They always do.
But the Broncos rushed for 18 yards on Sunday. Total. Siemian was sacked three times and ran for his life another dozen. The offense has a gaping hole at the line of scrimmage.
And that's too bad.
