National Football League

Bumbling Broncos have lost 14 of last 18

Published Nov. 7, 2010 1:03 a.m. ET

foxsports

A year ago, Josh McDaniels was chewing out his players on the sideline. Now, he's chewing on his finger nails.

While the once-proud Denver Broncos plummet into the ranks of the NFL's worst teams with 14 losses in their last 18 games, the second-year coach whose passion was so evident during his rookie season has gone mysteriously mute.

He silently seethes over his awful offense, dismal defense and shoddy special teams, then offers apologies and assurances afterward.

No more fist pumping like Tiger Woods when things go right - and he hasn't had much to celebrate this season as his reeling 2-6 team resides in the AFC West basement.

No more gathering his offensive line and hollering at them like he did last Thanksgiving Day, when his F-bomb was accidentally aired on a delay by the NFL Network.

These days, McDaniels stands alone with his headset on the sideline, searching for answers on his play sheet while his injury-riddled and penalty-prone team often shows a lack of moxie and leadership on the field, particularly when safety Brian Dawkins is in street clothes because of a bad knee.

Also quiet are team owner Pat Bowlen, who has medical issues and isn't speaking publicly about his troubled squad, and chief operating officer Joe Ellis, who has declined recent interview requests.

No one spoke for the organization this week following a meltdown in London that came on the heels of the 45-point loss to archrival Oakland - a defeat many consider the worst debacle in Denver in the team's 51-year history.

McDaniels gave his team much of the bye week off and didn't meet with the media nor make his players available before they scattered. A team spokesman said Ellis will speak on Bowlen's behalf, just not now.

McDaniels took the NFL by storm by winning his first six games last year. Since then, he's 4-14, better than just one team over that span, the woebegone Detroit Lions (3-15), who at least have Ndamukong Suh anchoring a stout defensive line that has them glancing an eager eye toward the future.

There is no such optimism in Denver, where indignant fans are raising a ruckus in blogs and on the airwaves, calling for McDaniels' head or griping over the front office's 11th-hour withdrawal of a contract extension for Champ Bailey that shook up the locker room.

Over all else, McDaniels has preached building a selfless team in Denver that plays with toughness and intelligence.

And yet, despite his beefing up the offensive and defensive lines in the offseason, the Broncos struggle even more than last year in running the ball and stopping the run. They're prone to penalties and mental miscues.

McDaniels has caught flak for his personnel moves ever since he began dismantling the offense he inherited from Mike Shanahan. But what has drawn his critics' ire this season aren't so much the well-documented trades of Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall but less-scrutinized departures that look either bad or befuddling in hindsight.

Former Broncos excelling in their new cities include running backs Peyton Hillis in Cleveland and Ryan Torain in Washington. Defensive back Alphonso Smith was a bust in Denver but is blossoming in Detroit. And veteran center Casey Wiegmann, whom McDaniels called light, weak and old, is anchoring the league's top rushing offense in Kansas City.

Meanwhile, the Broncos are averaging just 2.9 yards per carry and their secondary is showing its advanced age with a rash of injuries and poor play as Denver's defense slips to the bottom of the league again after a one-year respite under coordinator Mike Nolan, who parted ways with McDaniels last winter.

Denver caught some bad breaks before the season even started.

All-Pro left tackle Ryan Clady blew out his left knee playing pickup basketball on draft weekend, and he's playing more with his arms than his legs right now, allowing pressures and sacks that he never really did before.

Reigning NFL sacks king Elvis Dumervil tore a chest muscle just weeks after signing a mega contract while blocking Tyler Polumbus in a 1-on-1 drill during the early days of training camp.

Dumervil landed on injured reserve and Polumbus found himself on the waiver wire, where Detroit picked him up and traded him six days later to Seattle for a conditional draft pick.

The Broncos turned to Robert Ayers for a pass rush, but he's out right now with a broken foot. They lost LenDale White to a torn Achilles' tendon in the preseason, and Knowshon Moreno has torn both hamstrings, costing him all of training camp and a month of the season.

There are some bright spots, to be sure.

Brandon Lloyd is making sure nobody misses Marshall, amassing 878 yards and four touchdowns on 42 catches. Tim Tebow has scored two touchdowns in spot duty, but the coaching staff doesn't yet trust him to throw the ball.

Cornerback Andre' Goodman's nagging thigh injury has accelerated the learning curve of rookie cornerback Perrish Cox, who is constantly targeted by offensive coordinators and quarterbacks, and top draft pick Demaryius Thomas has shown flashes of big-play ability as a receiver and returner when healthy.

With the league's worst ground game, the Broncos have turned to quarterback Kyle Orton to carry them, and he's piling up prolific passing numbers - he's on pace for 5,000 yards - while also making all the line calls with a raw rookie, J.D. Walton, at center.

Yet Orton has turned the ball over three times when the Broncos were driving for the tying or winning touchdown in the closing minutes.

The offensive imbalance and over-reliance on Orton's right arm has its ramifications: predictability, a lack of possession time, a fatigued defense. Making matters worse, the Broncos have scored just once in the first quarter, so they seldom enjoy the luxury of dictating the flow of the game.

All indications are that McDaniels will get the chance to turn things around, however.

He has two years left on his contract and the Broncos are still on the hook for millions of dollars in Shanahan's salary with the Redskins this year and next.

So, if they fire McDaniels, they'd have three head coaches on the payroll, an implausible scenario for an organization that's been preaching financial prudence for years and whose owner is deeply involved in seeking a more palatable contract with the players union.

After a dreary first draft, McDaniels seems to have hit on several picks this spring, including Thomas, Cox and offensive lineman Zane Beadles. Yet the Broncos are rarely playing with the tenacity and mentality that McDaniels has preached since his arrival 22 months ago with a mandate to return the Broncos to respectability and the playoffs.

And as fans stream early to the exits, he stands alone on the sideline, chewing his nails, seething in anger, searching for answers.