During the entire history of pro football in Colorado, the Broncos have never been harder to love by a fan base that wishes it knew how to quit them.
It’s a problem we frankly don’t know how to deal with in Broncos Country. While it might be healthier for all concerned to wrap our arms around Nikola Jokic, raise a glass to Nathan MacKinnon and ignore the local NFL franchise it gets a clue, football is an obsession around here that can’t be cured.
You can’t tell a die-hard Broncomaniac to stop bleeding orange or quit caring, even when a grumpy coach insults the best fans in America with the misplaced arrogance that he’s the only one in Colorado that knows what winning football looks like.
As well-intentioned as they might be, the crazy-rich Waltons have spent $4.65 billion to buy a team now harder to like than when the Broncos were lovable losers that wore vertically striped socks and got punched out by every AFL bully that wandered into Denver way back in 1960.
During a year since taking over as a coach ownership didn’t really want in a city, he had no passion for adopting as his own, Broncos coach Sean Payton has done the impossible. And I’m not talking merely about somehow making Russell Wilson a sympathetic figure before kicking him to the curb and paying him nearly $38 million to play quarterback for Pittsburgh.
“Why can’t I be happy?” Payton asked after Denver beat Green Bay in October.
The answer can only be discovered in Payton’s mirror, because being miserable is a personal choice that runs deeper than the results on a scoreboard. Rather than choosing his battles, he fights them all, which makes Payton an unsympathetic figure in NFL circles far beyond Denver, where he has done what I believed was impossible and made himself the hardest Broncos coach to root for since Josh McDaniels got run out of town in 2010.
Football is a passion play in Colorado, which I don’t believe Payton has fully grasped. So maybe it’s hard for him to appreciate the emotional fallout for dumping safety Justin Simmons, one of the more righteous dudes to ever wear a Denver uniform. While that move stung the hearts of lovesick Broncomaniacs, it could be justified by the zero playoff appearances on Simmons’ resume.
Payton now must find a quarterback, because if the Broncos aren’t fooling anybody by suggesting Jarrett “Sparky” Stidham could be the answer. While veteran free agents from Sam Darnold to Gardner Minshew have found employment elsewhere, if Denver’s plan is for Stidham to take most snaps in 2024, the team might as well declare it’s tanking the season.
I’d suggest the Broncos pry away Sam Howell from Washington in exchange for a late-round draft choice, then trade back from their own slot at No. 12 in the first round to take Washington quarterback Michael Penix, not that anybody, least of all Payton, is asking for my opinion.
But there’s one football matter I do believe strongly to understand better than new Broncos CEO Greg Penner or Payton. While you won’t find a more forgiving and loyal fanbase anywhere in the NFL than the denizens of Broncos Country, the team has built a stinking heap of broken trust and wasted goodwill during eight years of bad, boring play on the field and short-sighted, tone-deaf judgment in the executive offices.
The successful reboot of a long-proud but now inept team from the ground up will not only require the blood, sweat and tears of this new coach and his hand-picked players, but also the faith and commitment of fans that have been taken for granted for too long since Pat Bowlen passed away in 2019.
The face of the Broncos is now a disdainful sneer. To change that image, Payton has to start by changing himself.
A rebuild of a football franchise is a process that requires vision. It is the obligation of Payton to share that vision during every step of the process with the best football fans in America. After suffering for so long with a team they love too much, Broncomaniacs deserve nothing less.
While burning it all down, Payton needs to explain how he’s going to build it back better than ever.
Broncos Country is a partnership, not a dictatorship.
I’m not certain if Payton is smart or humble enough to get that.
Please, prove me wrong.
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