5 players and coaches to blame for Broncos loss to Bengals

The Denver Broncos lost a heartbreaker to the Cincinnati Bengals. Which players and coaches are to blame for what could be a season killer?

The Denver Broncos’ loss against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday afternoon really felt like a season killer. Although the Broncos are 7-7 and the AFC playoff race is way too muddy right now to count them out, they will need to not only basically win out but they will also need other teams to lose.

The Broncos’ playoff destiny is no longer in their hands, even though they would have still needed some help had they beaten the Bengals.

On this Monday after a loss, everyone in Broncos Country is playing the blame game as anyone might expect after a crucial loss. So who actually deserves the blame for this one? Let’s take a look at the five players and coaches most directly connected with the Broncos taking this extremely frustrating loss at home.

Which Denver Broncos players and coaches are to blame after Bengals loss?

1. Vic Fangio, head coach

We’ll get to the struggles for the Denver Broncos offense plenty throughout this post, and there’s plenty of blame to go around.

For this game, you can really trace a major momentum shift back to one sequence of plays at the end of the first half.

The Broncos had the ball offensively and as they were matriculating down the field at a snail’s pace, the seconds kept right on ticking off the clock. Instead of having urgency, attempting to push the ball downfield, and going for a touchdown before the half with the game tied at 3-3, Fangio seemed content to barely get the ball within Brandon McManus’ range before settling for three points.

It was a disheartening end to the first half, even if you think Fangio managed the clock properly. The strategy of playing for three points instead of six when you could have gone for either is a loser’s mentality, in my eyes.

The strategy to settle for a 50-plus-yard field goal resulted in absolute disaster for the Broncos — a six-point swing in favor of the Bengals. Instead of the Broncos going into the half up 6-3, the Bengals got the ball after the missed field goal, promptly pushed the ball downfield for a near-20 yard gain, and kicked a field goal of their own to go up 6-3.

A six-point swing in a game decided by five points? That should put some major heat on the head coach considering this game had substantial playoff implications.

2. Pat Shurmur, offensive coordinator

Pat Shurmur continues to have a rough season for the Denver Broncos.

It’s a tough call on a week-to-week basis of who to blame between Shurmur or whoever is playing quarterback, but when the offense scores only 10 points in a must-win game?

Shurmur deserves plenty of heat for that.

There are two primary areas to point to in this game that highlight Shurmur in a very negative light.

The first is the sequence of plays after a phenomenal drive by the Broncos’ offense in which Teddy Bridgewater suffered a very scary injury. Before and after Bridgewater’s injury, the Broncos put together one of their more balanced and impressive offensive drives of the game. Bridgewater’s conversion on the play he got hurt helped set the Broncos and Drew Lock up for a touchdown drive, a throw deep downfield from Lock to Tim Patrick giving the Broncos a 10-9 lead.

Unfortunately, that lead disappeared as quickly as it appeared, and the Broncos’ offense found itself needing to respond after a big Bengals touchdown to put Cincinnati ahead 15-10.

Shurmur’s offense marched right down the field once again, getting inside the 10-yard line with a great combination of running and passing. It seemed for a stretch, whatever Shurmur was calling was working. Running with Javonte Williams and Melvin Gordon, even throwing the ball with Drew Lock to all levels of the field.

It was clicking.

Then, inside the 10-yard line, Shurmur called a read-option for Drew Lock and Lock had the ball stripped right out of his hands as he wrongfully kept the option. It’s something we’ve seen from Lock before, but with Williams and Gordon running the ball so well, why would you take the ball out of their hands at all?

Why would he call this play when Lock has a clear history of untimely turnovers?

Of course, everyone agrees that Drew Lock should not have fumbled the ball, but it was Shurmur who called this absolutely ridiculous play at a crucial juncture of the game.

Besides his grave mistake calling the read-option for Lock inside the 10-yard line, Shurmur using one of his best players — wide receiver Jerry Jeudy — as a total decoy the entire game is embarrassing to watch.

Extremely embarrassing.

How do you justify four targets and zero catches for Jerry Jeudy in a must-win game? How do you justify never giving him the ball as he sprints back and forth in motion all game long?

Pre-snap motion is effective, sure, but get Jeudy the ball. There’s no reason he shouldn’t be getting at least five touches every single game, even if you have to get creative in doing just that.

It’s an egregious mistake the way Jeudy was used in this game.

3. Courtland Sutton, wide receiver

Simply put, this was a tough game for wide receiver Courtland Sutton.

Everyone in Broncos Country has been absolutely begging for the team to get him the ball more, so the Broncos targeted him seven times in this game.

Unfortunately, those targets didn’t all go that well.

On one of Sutton’s first targets of the game, he beat the cornerback to the inside on a slant route and was wide open on a third down that would have extended the drive and then some. Teddy Bridgewater’s pass was right out in front of Sutton, exactly where it needed to be for Sutton to not only catch the ball but create some YAC.

It went right through his hands.

The next massive mistake by Sutton came on the drive where the Broncos got their first three points of the game. Teddy Bridgewater doesn’t attack the ball downfield often, but he did on this particular play, getting Sutton an opportunity to go up over Eli Apple and make a play on the ball.

Everyone on Twitter wants to talk about the great play Apple made on the ball, which he did, but Sutton beat him badly on this particular play and did everything but what great receivers do in these contested-catch situations. He needs to go up and pluck the ball out of the air instead of waiting for it to come to him.

What should have been six points and a turning point of the game will go down in the books as just an incomplete pass for Teddy Bridgewater. It was one of Bridgewater’s better throws of the last few weeks, and a receiver like Sutton should be expected to make that play, especially after getting his new contract.

4. Denver Broncos offensive line

The Denver Broncos offensive line has caught a lot of unnecessary heat this season because of the number of times Teddy Bridgewater has been sacked.

Frankly, they’ve protected much better than Bridgewater’s sack numbers would indicate.

However, in this game against the Cincinnati Bengals, it was not the Broncos winning in the trenches on offense. The Bengals’ defensive line, led by Trey Hendrickson and DJ Reader, bullied the offensive line all day long and the Broncos didn’t have much of an answer.

As the Bengals wore the offensive line down over the course of the game, critical mistakes began happening late, including two massive holding penalties from left tackle Garett Bolles.

Trey Hendrickson is a stud and is relentless with the way he plays, so you have to tip your cap. Bolles did everything he could for the most part but got caught holding a couple of times late.

The Bengals were sending blitzes at the Broncos’ offensive line all game. They actually held up well for a good bit of this game but the Bengals got the Broncos in an area where Denver has had their way in recent weeks — the running game.

It felt like Cincinnati did a better job at limiting the Broncos’ running backs than other teams have, and that’s largely due to the fact that they were winning at the line of scrimmage. Broncos backs were not able to do as much after initial contact in this game and the offensive line deserves plenty of blame for the overall result of this game.

5. The Denver Broncos quarterbacks

Once again, the Denver Broncos’ quarterback play is a primary reason for a loss.

Early on in this game, the offense with Teddy Bridgewater at the helm was as anemic as we have seen it all season. Sure, the Bengals have a tough defense, but it’s painful to watch the offense continually fail with how well the defense has played.

Teddy Bridgewater has shown so much better at times this season than we saw from him against the Bengals, and in a game of this magnitude, everyone expected him to play far better than he did.

Of course, at this point, the first and foremost concern with Bridgewater is his physical health. Here’s the latest update from the Broncos:

It is obviously great to hear that Bridgewater is okay and doesn’t have any damage to his neck or spine area. That was a huge concern watching the play he got injured live as he went to the ground hard.

As Bridgewater left the game, Drew Lock entered and the offense seemingly opened up. It was like the blinds were closed and then opened when Lock came in and started pressing the ball downfield a bit more in the passing game.

The threat of the downfield passing attack opened things up for the run game and the Broncos put together two really impressive drives on Lock’s first two possessions, only to have the second one end in complete disaster.

Lock went from playing really well to making one of the biggest mistakes at the worst possible time this season. His fumble inside the 10-yard line on the read-option is inexcusable for a guy who had an absolutely golden opportunity to get the Broncos a win.

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Ultimately, there is blame to be spread around after this loss which ended with only 10 points by the offense, but it’s hard not to look at the guys under center as primary reasons why the offense couldn’t get the job done in this game.