Broncos Fall to Bengals 20-17, Suffer Sixth Straight Defeat

The Broncos fell to the Bengals 20-17 on Sunday in Denver. The Broncos lost their sixth straight game, fall to 3-7, and their disastrous 2017 season continues with any playoff hopes dashed. It was a disappointing loss to a team that many people figured Denver would take care of and snap their losing streak, but it didn't work that way. Here are my "Five Points" from the game..

1) The following sequence really sums up the entire season so far: Denver forces an early three and out, and they block a Cincy punt to get good field position in Bengals territory. They drive down inside the five, and on 3rd and goal, Brock Osweiler gets picked off in the end zone by Dre Kirkpatrick, and he returned it to the Denver 3 yard line. They scored three plays later and all of a sudden they are down 6-0. All the momentum was gone and they were behind in the first quarter of a game once again.

2) Another play that just summarizes their season is this play: C.J. Anderson's fumble in the 4th quarter. Down 13-10, near midfield on a second down and Anderson breaks free for a short gain and gets hit by Vontaze Burfict and fumbles the ball and Cincy recovers. A few plays later, Andy Dalton hits A.J. Green for a touchdown and it is now 20-10 Cincy.

3) Bradley Roby got beat twice for big touchdowns, one in the second quarter and one in the fourth quarter, and it seemed like he didn't even care. Both were backbreaking plays, and Roby has been picked on all year long, and once again the Broncos defense didn't adjust during the game to a matchup problem.

4) If it is not the offense, then it is the special teams, then the defense lays an egg. Each week a different group makes a critical error. This team is just so bad to watch. It makes plays that are so bad that they look JV football team. It is just a mess all around and really hard to watch every week. This game was a perfect example of that.

5) The team is now 3-7 and the list of dubious marks just continues. It was the first time they lost to the Bengals at home since 1975, and it is the first six game losing streak for the Broncos since 1990. They are done as far as the playoffs are concerned and now it is time to turn it over to Paxton Lynch. Mike McCoy took the axe on Monday, and he is just one of the many heads that will roll. Right now, the Broncos have to hope two things going forward: 1) Paxton Lynch looks amazing or 2) They lose so many games that they are picking in the top 3 or 4 of the draft next year. It has been a rough year in Denver, and the sad part is that if they had won on Sunday, they would have only been 1 game out of the Wild Card and only 2 games out of the AFC West. Unfortunately, they lost to the Bengals and that effectively ends their playoff hopes and everyone in this organization (Front Office, Coaches, and Players) needs to be held accountable.