In the early-going of Sunday’s 20-17 loss to the Bengals, Brock Osweiler hurried a throw into the Bengals’ end zone — and into coverage. What looked like a scoring drive and a an early lead evaporated instead, resulting in an interception and a 101-yard return for Cincinnati’s Dre Kirkpatrick. Kirkpatrick comically fumbled the ball and lost what would have been his touchdown, but recovered the ball, and the Bengals scored immediately afterward.
The Broncos have lost six straight games for the first time since 1990 and in all aspects, this Denver team officially looks lost. The coaching staff seems to have lost connection with the players, and the players continue to perform in an underwhelming fashion. Any playoff dreams have realistically vanished, and it’s time to look to the future — Paxton Lynch.
Lynch was officially named the backup quarterback before the matchup against the Bengals after coming back from a shoulder injury that kept him off the field for the first 11 weeks of the season. Now that he is healthy enough to play, the Broncos need to finish this frustrating season out with Lynch as the starter. John Elway has continued to say they want Lynch to get more reps to gain the experience. This season is a bust and the time is now. Get Lynch all of the reps he needs to become more comfortable running the offense.
Lynch played in three games in 2016, starting in two of them. He threw for 497 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. He has a strong enough arm to hit his targets on any routes, but needs to work on accuracy to hit his receivers in stride. The Broncos have high hopes for the 22-year-old, and he needs to be given the opportunity to grow as a starting quarterback so the team can determine if their hopes can be realized.
It’s safe to say, by now, that Osweiler is little more than an average backup quarterback. It just doesn’t make sense to keep running him out there for the remainder of the season while the potential future of this franchise is sitting on the bench, merely listening to play calls, gaining no playing experience.
The Broncos will almost certainly end up with a losing record for the first time since 2010 with a very strong possibility of a high draft pick for the 2018 season. Broncos fans will welcome the playing time for Lynch, and it will help out all parties involved.
The Broncos need to take something positive out of this disappointing 2017 season. That positive would be making Lynch the starting quarterback for the remaining games of the season — if only for the Broncos to learn about what they’re dealing with prior to the offseason.
It is time to look forward for the 2018 season, as hard as that may sound for the fans and this franchise. Ready or not, the Broncos need to give Lynch the opportunity to become the star that Elway and the Broncos believe he can become.
The time is now.
