The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Penner must start making hard decisions

It was time to make a big coaching change last week after the loss to the Raiders.

Now, it’s beyond time.

After another embarrassing and demoralizing loss for the Broncos on Sunday, this time in Carolina, team ownership must start making the hard decisions. The Walton-Penner Family Ownership Group is led by CEO Greg Penner. It’s up to him to act and he should act now. The season is shot, and has been for awhile, but Sunday’s 23-10 loss to the Panthers feels like rock bottom.

How did it happen and what were the biggest takeaways? Let’s dive into it with our 11th edition of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

The Good

Every week in this space, there’s been something good to write about. Usually it’s the defense, but they’ve had back-t0-back tough games. Even Denver’s best player, cornerback Pat Surtain II, looked mortal against the Panthers and Raiders. It’s a group that’s been burdened with carrying this team all season, and it’s finally starting to show some cracks.

The offense only had three points until the contest was well out of hand against the Panthers, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t at least one encouraging performance. Even this is stretching it a little bit, but at least the Broncos running game accomplished something they hadn’t all season. They busted off a run of 20 yards or longer, the last team in the NFL to achieve the feat.

And what do you know? It was Latavius Murray, the man who made Melvin Gordon expendable, that delivered the long gain. Murray reeled off a 52-yard run late in the first half, only to have it ruined by a Russell Wilson fumble a couple of plays later. Fitting, right? The Broncos offense finally does something well, and gets exactly zero points out of it.

The Bad

It wasn’t just Wilson’s fumble that cost the Broncos in Carolina. Nope, a couple other plays shot themselves in the foot. After a pathetic Panthers muff on a punt return, Denver had great field position and needed to score a key touchdown. Instead, they didn’t let the $245 million man Wilson throw one time, and settled for a field goal. They even tried to get Montrell Washington involved again on offense, and a harmless run went for just one yard.

Washington was later replaced in the return game by fellow rookie Jalen Virgil, who managed to fumble away his chance. It was mistake after mistake for the Broncos, which is about the only thing they’ve been consistent at this year. And that’s messing things up.

Even down 23-3 late, they “scored” three touchdowns that were all taken off the board for various reasons. Courtland Sutton’s legs were tangled with a Carolina defender that ruled him down, even though he ran into the end zone. Greg Dulcich had a penalty wipe a TD off the board. Kendall Hinton could’ve sworn he caught one, but the ball hit the ground. It took a fourth-down penalty for Brandon Johnson to finally score on the next set of downs, but the outcome was never in doubt.

The Ugly

It’s time for Penner to make moves.

As I mentioned last week, he may not be a “football guy” just yet, but he’s a businessman. A very successful one at that, and what he witnessed on Sunday was flat out ugly. He has to know a bad product when he sees it, and the Broncos have put one on the field in almost every game this season. Even their three wins weren’t all that satisfying, and there’s a real path for this team to be 0-11.

He can’t wait for GM George Paton to come knock on his door and suggest they fire head coach Nathaniel Hackett. Nope, Penner needs to go knock on Paton’s door, and tell him this is happening. Today. Now. Immediately. Letting Hackett lead this team in Baltimore next Sunday would be an insult to Denver fans. He’s proven over and over he’s not good at his job and the top boss needs to make the tough call.

Patience is thin in Broncos Country. And Penner must get involved far quicker than he probably ever imagined. But the fanbase needs to see it — that this man wants to win as badly as they do.

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