Broncos vs. Bills: How the Broncos Squandered a Great Opportunity

The Denver Broncos came out with a bang.

Realizing that they could clinch their first postseason berth since 2005 with a win and an Oakland loss Saturday afternoon, the Broncos scored a touchdown on their opening drive for the second consecutive week.

Like the previous week's game against the Patriots, the final result wasn't as pretty.

In fact, it was downright disgusting.

The Broncos lost 40-14 to the Buffalo Bills. Yes, the same Bills team that had lost seven straight games since their last victory against the Redskins on October 30th.

Words cannot describe how frustrating this game was from a Broncos point of view.

After the first quarter ended, the Broncos continued their second quarter woes. They were outscored 17-0, including an 80-yard punt return by Leodis McKelvin for a touchdown that resulted in a 10-7 lead that the Bills would never relinquish.

The Broncos would go on to score on their first drive of the second half with a 17-yard touchdown pass from Tim Tebow to Daniel Fells.

Similar to their start at the beginning of the first half, the Broncos would quickly fizzle after that, not scoring a single time for the rest of the game.

This game was frustrating for a variety of reasons.

The Bills had been one of the coldest teams in the NFL, losing seven straight games since the end of October. They had a quarterback in Ryan Fitzpatrick who had been downright awful since signing his contract extension midway through the season. They are missing their best player in Fred Jackson due to injury.

Although the Raiders did win their game in Kansas City, negating any chance Denver had of clinching the division in Week 16, it doesn't make it any more comforting knowing and seeing how the Broncos have played in the past two weeks.

It's downright discouraging.

I expected the Broncos to lose to the Patriots. I did not expect them to lose to Buffalo. Especially in the manner that they lost it in.

It's common sense to have expected the Broncos to at least struggle a little bit. There's a two-hour time difference between Denver and Buffalo and the Broncos were traveling from coast-to-coast after their 41-23 loss to the Patriots just six days prior in Denver.

However, there is absolutely no excuse for the way that this team played. There is no excuse for the terrible coaching during this game.

If you are playing for a playoff spot and you control your own destiny, you should never lose the way the Broncos did in their 40-14 loss on Christmas Eve. Especially to a team that hasn't experienced the taste of victory since before Halloween.

But the Broncos somehow managed to do that. They somehow found a way to lose to a team that had gone 0-for-23 on third-down conversions against the 5-10 Miami Dolphins in two games this season.

There was nothing positive to take from this game. Not a single thing.

In the Patriots game, you had the first 22 minutes of the game to at least look back on, and say to yourself, "Hey, this is a young team. For the first 22 minutes they showed what they could potentially be. They just simply lost to a better team."

There was none of that in this game. Outside of two smooth scoring drives that ended in touchdowns, every other possession, which included four interceptions thrown by Tebow, were ugly.

In the second quarter, where the Broncos have been the worst team of any NFL squad since the 2007 season, why was John Fox continuously calling the same running plays on first and second down when Denver had a chance to put the kill on Buffalo?

The Broncos could not run the ball at all in this game. It was clear after their first drive that Buffalo had figured out a way to win the battle in the trenches. Why was Fox so stubborn to continuously run the ball?

Hell, there was a play late in the second quarter with Denver down 10-7, where it was 3rd-and-1, and what does Fox decide to do? Run it up the middle with Tebow for another failed third-down conversion.

Tebow played terrible. For the first time outside of the Detroit game, he looked flustered. There have been games where he has overthrown receivers, had bad pocket presence that resulted in sacks and was downright inaccurate, but in every game, you always had that feeling that Tebow could lead the comeback. That he could lead the team to victory.

This wasn't one of those games.

In what might have been the worst game of his collegiate or professional career, Tebow had his first ever three-interception game, before finishing with a total of four interceptions.

The defense didn't receive help, but they weren't their usual selves for the second straight week.

Yet again, they couldn't force any turnovers.

They gave up 5.7 yards a carry on the ground to the tandem of C.J. Spiller and recently-signed Tashard Choice.

The receivers dropped numerous passes.

In a perfect ending to the game, Lance Ball dropped a wide open pass along the left sideline with a chance to gain the first down in the red zone because he looked ahead before he could gather the football.

Maybe the Broncos had looked ahead too.

Maybe they looked ahead a little too soon.