AFC West at a Crossroad

[Shazam!]

First of all, I have ZERO REASON to believe the Broncos will step up. They haven't been able to take must-win games too many times and I don't believe they'll win on Sunday. I do sure as hell hope they kick the ?!@# out of the Chargers though, man I !@#$ing hate them so much.

Obviously, some people here believe the Broncos will beat SD on Sunday, others do not. Some people HOPE they'll lose for Draft picks or 2009 schedule and I think that's just pathetic. I want the Broncos to win every week. Even if they were 2-13 the final Sunday I don't care.

I see bigger things possibly coming from this Sunday's AFC West Bowl. Or some may call it the Irrelevency Bowl. A team has to represent the West and I want it to be our Boys. Two things can happen here on Sunday, bigger than the game, the Draft, or the 2009 Season. This can happen. Two scenarios-

IF DENVER WINS- SD will go into a tailspin. Major changes will come to fix their problems and that doesn't mean it will work with FAs. Good chemistry isn't guaranteed as we in Denver well know. Rivera and some other staff may likely go elsewhere with many Coaching vacancies being opened in 10 days. LT is another year older and will not be the same workhorse ever again. Norv Turner will be maligned by fans and analysts alike. After being a heavy favorite and not being able to win even 8 games, it would be a massive failure. To chase the Broncos all season, to have it within their grasp and lose terribly at the end after playing so well the last few weeks would be devastating. It would be a renewed venomous AFC West bloody rivalry to them for years, similar to Seattle/Denver in the 80's.

IF SD WINS- Denver will be the only team in NFL History to lead their Division the entire season and cough it up at the end in such an embarassing fashion. It will be the biggest team collapse in Shanahan's career and one of the worst for the Broncos in many, many years. The team's confidence could be shattered (ala the NY Giants playoff defeat vs. SF a few years ago, they were never the same) and they may never rebound. Even though they are a young group of guys they may no longer respond. Cutler's confidence in his Coaches could be broken and his mentality shaken. Shanahan will be hit hard across League circles and his reputation shattered. Pat Bowlen's sanity will be questioned for keeping Shanahan. His job could truly be in jeopardy and a need for a new direction for what seems like the first time ever after something like this. If he is around for the offseason and doesn't produce in 2009, I don't see how Pat Bowlen can even consider to keep him around.

Injuries aside. The team has professional players and has to produce.

Thought? Agree? Disagree? Thanks and Merry Christmas!

Go :defense:. Kill SD.

[broncophan]

The last thing this franchise needs is to be remembered for an embarrassing collapse..............even as successful as the franchise has been.....imo.....there has been to many embarrassments for the franchise......not the least of which was their superbowl embarrassments.

I don't think SD will falter that easily.......I think that they have just had a down year.....for whatever reason......but with the talent they have......I think they will bounce back.

[Shazam!]

Seasons in the NFL all happen in cycles. A like this loss may cause a team to go into a tailspin.

I am just speculating scenarios. Maybe overthinking a bit but they are possible outlooks.

Then again, a Broncos beatdown is a possible outlook too.

[CrazyHorse]

Both the AFC West and NFC West are really bad this year.
That's why their called the AFC Worst and NFC Worst.
It's an accurated description.

[Simple Jaded]

The AFCWest sucks, if people think the Chargers are unbeatable than they haven't been paying attention.

Funny how "Expecting" a loss is somehow better than "accepting" a loss.......

[omac]

The AFCWest sucks, if people think the Chargers are unbeatable than they haven't been paying attention.

Funny how "Expecting" a loss is somehow better than "accepting" a loss.......

The Raiders and the Chiefs accounted for 3 of their wins. They've beaten the Jets and the Bucs, like we have; they've lost to the Panthers and Miami, like we have. They've lost to Atlanta and NO, both of whom who we've beaten, while they've beaten NE who'm we've lost to. We're practically the same teams, but the softer part of SD's schedule came in 2 of their last 3 games. Also, as the Broncos are getting more injured, SD's been getting healthier.

The Chargers are definitely beatable, and KC practically had to give the game away.

The Broncos will have their hands full.

[Sotally Tober]

I don't know about Shanny losing his job. I doubt it. I think your defensive coordinator is awful though and I think the Denver defense really is lacking in the talent department. If Denver wins this one they go into the playoffs, face Indianapolis and lose in a big way ala New England 2008. We win and we take out Indy yet again ala 2007. Then we lose to Baltimore/New England/Miami/Pittsburgh/Tennessee and Norv is unfortunately safe for 2009 with Rivera staying on board as long as long as no HC positions open up for him elsewhere. I'm hoping for the latter.

[omac]

First of all, I have ZERO REASON to believe the Broncos will step up. They haven't been able to take must-win games too many times and I don't believe they'll win on Sunday. I do sure as hell hope they kick the ?!@# out of the Chargers though, man I !@#$ing hate them so much.

Obviously, some people here believe the Broncos will beat SD on Sunday, others do not. Some people HOPE they'll lose for Draft picks or 2009 schedule and I think that's just pathetic. I want the Broncos to win every week. Even if they were 2-13 the final Sunday I don't care.

I see bigger things possibly coming from this Sunday's AFC West Bowl. Or some may call it the Irrelevency Bowl. A team has to represent the West and I want it to be our Boys. Two things can happen here on Sunday, bigger than the game, the Draft, or the 2009 Season. This can happen. Two scenarios-

IF DENVER WINS- SD will go into a tailspin. Major changes will come to fix their problems and that doesn't mean it will work with FAs. Good chemistry isn't guaranteed as we in Denver well know. Rivera and some other staff may likely go elsewhere with many Coaching vacancies being opened in 10 days. LT is another year older and will not be the same workhorse ever again. Norv Turner will be maligned by fans and analysts alike. After being a heavy favorite and not being able to win even 8 games, it would be a massive failure. To chase the Broncos all season, to have it within their grasp and lose terribly at the end after playing so well the last few weeks would be devastating. It would be a renewed venomous AFC West bloody rivalry to them for years, similar to Seattle/Denver in the 80's.

IF SD WINS- Denver will be the only team in NFL History to lead their Division the entire season and cough it up at the end in such an embarassing fashion. It will be the biggest team collapse in Shanahan's career and one of the worst for the Broncos in many, many years. The team's confidence could be shattered (ala the NY Giants playoff defeat vs. SF a few years ago, they were never the same) and they may never rebound. Even though they are a young group of guys they may no longer respond. Cutler's confidence in his Coaches could be broken and his mentality shaken. Shanahan will be hit hard across League circles and his reputation shattered. Pat Bowlen's sanity will be questioned for keeping Shanahan. His job could truly be in jeopardy and a need for a new direction for what seems like the first time ever after something like this. If he is around for the offseason and doesn't produce in 2009, I don't see how Pat Bowlen can even consider to keep him around.

Injuries aside. The team has professional players and has to produce.

Thought? Agree? Disagree? Thanks and Merry Christmas!

Go :defense:. Kill SD.

Nice post, but I think the scenarios of what would happen with both teams is an over reaction.

Truth be told, though we had high hopes for the Broncos this season, we weren't expecting them to get into the playoffs as the division leader, but as a wildcard if they could. We didn't expect our passing offense to gain this many yards or points, we didn't expect the Broncos to be this good in the redzone, we didn't expect Clady, Harris, and the whole OL to provide Cutler with near perfect protection, we didn't expect to have so much better starting field position than we have in previous years. We also didn't expect almost all our draft picks this season to immediately make a big impact in games, either.

Pat and Mikey will look at the season as a whole and see where they have improved and where they have stagnated or even went backwards, and they will see that this team has indeed improved in a ton of areas. They'll also notice that the defense just isn't cutting it, and that the rushing offense has become extremely inconsistent. Hopefully, they'll notice all the injuries too, and do something about our conditioning coach.

AJ will do the same for the Chargers. They'll probably court Merriman again, because they now realize just how exposed their defense is without his presence. They'll get an eventual replacement for LT and Gates. The only one AJ probably won't change is Norv, since doing so would mean admitting his mistake.

The reason the Broncos have been steady all these years is that Pat and Mikey have level heads, and they don't panic. Contrast that with AJ getting rid of Marty after a 14-2 season, or Al Davis firing Lane Kiffin despite the resurgence in their rushing offense and the culture he brought to them (both of which are now gone :D ).

Sometimes, you have to take a step back to see the whole picture. The Broncos are going in the right direction in almost all aspects (except defense :tsk: ). :cheers:

(added) The Chargers are fine; you don't go from having about 8(?) probowlers the previous season to a suddenly talentless team. They just need a course correction (get rid of Norv), and start bringing up another young RB.

[fcspikeit]

If we missed the playoffs after losing last week it would have been bad enough, If we miss the playoffs after losing to SD, we might never recover. There isn't another team in the NFL the Broncos wouldn't rather lose to. On the other hand, there isn't another team the Broncos would rather beat to get to the playoffs.

Winning this game will be huge for our young team. Think of it, how much confidence will we have going into the playoffs coming off a win like that? It really is like a playoff game. You have to win if you want to keep playing.

The biggest difference is if we lost in the playoffs, there would be some consolation just making it to the playoffs. There will be no consolation if we lose this game. Just a terrible taste in our mouth going into the off season..

We need this game!

Go Broncos. I believe, do what needs to be done..

[WARHORSE]

In the end.......the mortuary.

No matter how as spin it.