Coming into this season the Denver Broncos looked like an absolute mess after some serious retooling of their franchise in the offseason.  Late season the Denver Broncos completely fell apart despite having one of the best offenses in the NFL with Pro Bowl quarterback Jay Cutler behind center and up and coming wide receiver Brandon Marshall.  These two players quickly turned into one of the best one-two punches in the NFL, but as the season neared its end, the Broncos defense fall flat on its face and eventually was the reason for the team’s undoing.
 
The Broncos may have been able to put up 40+ points on any given Sunday last season, but they couldn’t stop anybody on the defensive side of the football.  As a result, the Broncos lost the lead in the AFC West and conceded the division title to the San Diego Chargers in the final game of the season.  So after the Denver Broncos were getting Super Bowl buzz and leading in the AFC West division for the majority of the season, they completely collapse and missed the playoffs altogether.
 
Even though many people believed that the Broncos problems were correctable by retooling the defense, Denver management felt differently and made the drastic move of firing long time head coach and Broncos legend Mike Shanahan.  After firing Shanahan, the Denver Broncos went out and made yet another drastic move by hiring first time head coach and former New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.
 
At first glance, the majority of people felt as if the Broncos were headed for disaster by hiring an offensive minded head coach when the Broncos problems were mostly defense related.  As if that weren’t bad enough, McDaniels’ first order of business as the Denver Broncos head coach was to try and trade franchise quarterback Jay Cutler for New England Patriots backup quarterback Matt Cassel.
 
The trade attempt by McDaniels, which went horribly wrong, sent shockwaves through the franchise and convinced Jay Cutler that the Broncos no longer wanted him and he wanted out.  As a result, Cutler was traded to the Chicago Bears for Kyle Orton and a draft pick which ended up being rookie running back Knowshon Moreno. Despite starting the season out to a red hot start with six straight wins under new head coach Josh McDaniels, the Denver Broncos just went downhill from there as they lost their next five games and basically gave the San Diego Chargers the chance they needed to take the lead in the AFC West division and eventually clinch the division title.  The Broncos have a lot of work to do if they want to make a go at it again next year!

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