The Denver Broncos season isn’t officially over, but Sunday’s loss to the New England Patriots on Christmas Eve was a dagger to their playoff hopes and dreams.

The Grinch steals Broncos’ playoff hopes

Every Who down in Whoville liked Christmas a lot, but the Grinch – who lived just north of Whoville – did *not*. The Grinch hated Christmas – the *whole* Christmas season. Now, please don’t ask why; no one quite knows the reason. It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight.

With all of the rumors swirling of his potential demise, Bill Belichick’s shoes were too tight. Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos experienced the wrath of it on Sunday night as Belichick and Bailey Zappe came down from above Whoville to steal the Broncos’ playoff chances away.

After going into halftime with a 7-3 lead, Denver collapsed on their first three possessions of the second half, punting three straight times. Russell Wilson was sacked three times in those three drives, and the Patriots capitalized.

Zappe orchestrated several big drives for the Patriots to open up the second half, scoring twice on their first three possessions. After a halftime lead, Denver suddenly found themselves trailing 23-7 in the third quarter after Marvin Mims muffed a kick return that was recovered in the endzone for a touchdown.

Boo birds rang out loudly from Broncos Country, with the disappointing realization that their hopes for the playoffs were fading away.

Sunday’s game was a monumental opportunity for the Broncos to control their narrative to end the season, but New England made it impossible for them to get into a rhythm for a large portion of the second half.

Denver’s offense was noticeably different after Courtland Sutton left the game with a head injury and didn’t return. Payton’s offense and Wilson couldn’t find a way to connect with other receivers. Instead, Wilson relied heavily on his running backs either behind the line of scrimmage or as dump-off options for minimal gains.

Denver made a run in the fourth quarter after Wilson found Lucas Krull for a touchdown, followed by a two-point conversion to Brandon Johnson to make it a 23-15 ballgame. Wilson and Denver capitalized on their next drive by finding Jerry Jeudy for two big receptions.

Several plays later, Wilson found Johnson for a 21-yard catch and run for a touchdown and then converted on the 2-pt conversion to tie the game up at 23.

The Broncos’ defense struggled against Zappe and the Patriots’ passing attack, who carved them up regardless of them being in zone or man coverage. While the Patriots struggled on third down, Zappe made Denver pay on first and second down consistently throughout the game.

He connected with DeVante Parker for a key back-shoulder throw in the final 40 seconds of the game that put them into field goal range. Chad Ryland nailed it from 56 yards out, ending the Broncos’ playoff hopes in walk-off fashion 26-23.

The loss dropped Denver to 7-8, where they’ll have two games left on the season. Now, there will be several big questions approaching the Broncos this week regarding their strategy in these final two games.

What will their plans be for Russell Wilson? How does the team respond with two AFC West games remaining?