Denver Broncos

Worst fans? Why did Denver boo Brock Osweiler in his return to Mile High?

Published Nov. 15, 2016 1:50 p.m. ET

Chris Chase

Brock Osweiler, a guy who as recently as 52 weeks ago was known only as Peyton Manning's freakishly tall backup and then was forced into duty after Manning's injury and greatly aided the Denver Broncos in their Super Bowl run, returned to the Mile High City on Monday night after leaving the team in free agency for more money and a lower altitude in Houston.

Despite not playing a minute of the postseason, Osweiler still had a major role in Denver winning the Super Bowl. He went 5-2 in the regular season while Manning recovered and helped clinch home-field advantage for the Broncos with his overtime win against Tom Brady and the Patriots in that wild Sunday night game in Denver. The deficit -- which had been two games with New England at 10-0 and Denver at 8-2 -- was suddenly cut to a half-game, which Denver made up a week later when Osweiler beat the Chargers and the Pats lost their second straight game. From 8-2 and two games back to 10-2 and tied, all within seven days. Brock did that.

He helped get the Broncos home-field advantage for the AFC championship game, something that surely helped the team win the 20-18 nail biter that sent the franchise back to the Super Bowl. Brock did that, too. And now you're booing him? He went 5-2 despite never starting a game in his life. If he had lost just one more game, going a respectable 4-3, the Broncos would have tied with the Chiefs in the AFC West, lost the division on a tiebreaker and been forced to play three road games to get to the Super Bowl rather than the two home games they did play. And for this you boo? Osweiler had every bit as much to do with that Super Bowl as the guys on the field in February. Don't think the shell of Peyton Manning that took the field earlier this year was making it through three road games unscathed.

Okay, but Osweiler abandoned the Broncos to go to Houston. So what? Like anybody in that crowd Monday night wouldn't leave their jobs (or at least give serious thought to doing so) for a 23 percent guaranteed salary increase like the one Osweiler got when he spurned $30 million guaranteed from Denver for $37 million guaranteed in Houston? Dude got paid more money to go play somewhere else. If the Broncos wanted him that bad, they should have increased the offer. Why begrudge Osweiler that?

And this is the one I can't stress enough: The Broncos dodged a bullet in not signing Brock Osweiler. He stinks! Monday night Denver should have felt like Keanu in The Matrix, dodging all the bullets flying by in slow motion and pondering a different reality in which this tall drink of water was gaining the second-fewest yards in NFL history on 40-plus pass attempts while wearing orange and blue. Osweiler is a bust. He's not very good. Shouldn't that be a relief?

Forget the home-field acquisition, the fact that he was a good teammate and the hypocrisy of holding it against someone that's not you for taking more money. Osweiler also did this major solid to the Broncos franchise: He showed that, with the defense constructed as is, it doesn't take a high-priced quarterback to win games. Osweiler was mediocre, at best, last season. Peyton was, too. The reason John Elway could afford to avoid a bidding war for Osweiler is because Osweiler showed him that a) he wasn't worth it and b) the team could take any warm body, tell him not to force passes and rely on the defense to do the rest, which is exactly what Denver is doing with Trevor Siemian who, by my calculations, has received $18.4 million less this season than the man he replaced. Siemian basically is Osweiler last year: unhyped and unpaid.

Yet you boo. They should build a statue to Trevor Siemian in Denver. Okay, maybe they shouldn't go that far -- but that guy should have gotten a standing ovation from those ungrateful fans, all with short memories of other post-Elway quarterbacks who came through town over the previous 17 years and didn't help the team win a Super Bowl. That's pathetic, Denver. You're supposed to be better than that. Boo you.