Quarterback Russell Wilson and the Denver Broncos had to endure the next defeat on the 16th day of play. The Los Angeles Rams rolled over Denver 51:14 and plunged Wilson and the Broncos even deeper into crisis.

Sunday, 26 December, 22:30 CET: The Los Angeles Rams host the crisis summit against the Denver Broncos on Matchday 16. Both teams have been out of the playoff race for some time.

These games are usually about selling well, pulling the metaphorical cart out of the mud and over the finish line reasonably cleanly, instilling optimism for the coming season.

And the Rams followed the script, putting up 51 points and putting on arguably their best performance of the season offensively. And the Broncos? They never showed up for the crisis summit. Instead, quarterback Russell Wilson and the team continued their slide.

Russell Wilson self-critical after loss

14 points scored by the Broncos and they remain the weakest offense in the league. The Rams, who have been outplayed defensively at times this season, held Wilson and the Broncos in check.

Away from the turf, tempers boiled over. During the game, the offensive linemen and backup QB Brett Rypien clashed after the latter allegedly tried to cover for Wilson. After the match, defensive end Randy Gregory got into a fight with a Rams offensive lineman.

“We’re all frustrated. We got our butts kicked, that was unacceptable. I let the team down,” Wilson said after the game. Touted as a saviour, the quarterback has rarely displayed the skills that made him one of the league’s best quarterbacks with the Seattle Seahawks, and the Rams’ performance was instead another low point.

Against the Rams, he completed just over half of his passes for 214 yards and a touchdown. Three interceptions went to his account. And, of course, it can be cited that the Broncos’ offensive line and wide receivers have had injury concerns over the season, that head coach Nathaniel Hackett doesn’t always pick the right plays and that Wilson himself has been under immense pressure from fans and media for months.

Russell Wilson: “Unforgivable mistakes “

But Wilson himself makes too many mistakes. Uncharacteristic mistakes. “Unforgivable mistakes”, as he says himself after the game. Sometimes he misses face-off stations, sometimes he throws balls into closed passing windows, sometimes he simply misses his pass receivers.

Mr. Unlimited, as he has called himself from time to time in the past, is clearly being shown his limits this season. Just over 3,000 passing yards, 60 percent completion percentage, twelve touchdowns and nine interceptions are to his credit.

Statistics that would have cost one or two other quarterbacks the starting job.

Denver Broncos and the Wilson trade

However, it’s not quite that easy for the Denver Broncos: because the team from Colorado let Wilson cost them a lot in terms of budget. For the quarterback and a fourth-round pick, the Seattle Seahawks received the Broncos’ first- and second-round picks in 2022 and 2023 (the Seahawks selected Charles Cross and Boye Mafe with the 2022 picks), a fifth-round pick in 2022 (after another trade, they selected defensive end Tyreke Smith and wide receiver Dareke Young), quarterback Drew Lock, tight end Noah Fant and defensive tackle Shelby Harris.

The Broncos signed Wilson to a five-year contract last offseason that could pay him up to $243 million. In concrete terms, the trade leaves the Broncos with little room to manoeuvre in the upcoming NFL Draft and too much salary budget invested in Wilson to easily let him go after the season.

Because if fired after this season, the Broncos would have to swallow a dead-cap hit of more than $107 million in the 2023/24 season alone – a financial nightmare that would make any competitiveness next season an impossibility.

Russell Wilson: What’s next?

A more realistic scenario, though also financially painful, would be to fire Wilson after the 2023/24 season, but even in that case the Broncos would have to carry a dead-cap hit of nearly $150 million over the next few years.

Ideally, Wilson would somehow find his way back to form, perhaps with a new head coach. Nathaniel Hackett’s chair has also been wobbling for months.

However, if Wilson’s slump in form turns out to be normal, the Broncos won’t be going anywhere in the next few years, except to sporting no-man’s land.