Denver Broncos have given a master class on how not to run a football team

Remember the days when the Denver Broncos were one of the most well-run organizations not only in the NFL, but in all of professional sports? It seems like ages ago and the fall of this team in recent years prompted me to write this not all that long ago.

But somehow, things continue to get worse and worse and it's all but laughable at this point. I know, I know, the thing to do is defend the organization and make it seem like every move "makes sense" but I'm sorry, I'm not going to do that and this is no exception.

On Wednesday, the Broncos made the decision to bench Russell Wilson and go with Jarrett Stidham for the final two games of this season. That was described as a "football decision" in order to protect the team's financial investment. Well OK, but then reports later stated that the team would also likely be cutting Wilson sometime in March. But, it gets even better.

Reports that came out after that news stated that Wilson has been aware of this being the likely scenario for "months". Excuse me?

This is absolutely ridiculous. If that is true, and Wilson was aware, how was he supposed to simultaneously take this team to the next level successfully? Seems a little counter-productive, does it not?

Also, if that is true, what in the world is George Paton still doing in the front office? There should be no way he gets out of this unscathed after he made the trade. A reminder, this was a trade that was not a good idea from the very onset, though fans back then were already planning Super Bowl parties because of how badly the Broncos "fleeced" the Seattle Seahawks (insert hysterical laugh).

I was not a fan of the trade for Wilson, as detailed here. I was a proponent of sticking with Drew Lock to see how he would do under Nathaniel Hackett and say what you will about Lock's level of play, but had the team done that, it would be sitting much prettier than it is at this current moment and it's not particularly close.

But the Broncos made the trade and now that it's been officially deemed a disaster, they have to get out of it. Here is what getting out of it looks like:

There is simply no way that those numbers don't lead to devastating results. However, the decision to bench him to prevent him from getting hurt in these last two games, where he wouldn't pass a physical next year for another team, would be a hole the team might not ever get out of. So that part makes sense.

But this team is not losing games because of Wilson. Granted, he hasn't been anywhere near what the team thought he would be, but he has thrown for 3,070 yards with 26 touchdowns and only eight interceptions this season. Could be be better? Of course, but he is not preventing the Broncos from winning.

What seems much more likely is that he and Sean Payton just don't care for one another and the coach-player relationship is beyond repair. Payton will now get to pick the next quarterback and we can only hope that turns out better.

But that again leads back to another horrible decision made by George Paton where Hackett was hired as the head coach as a way to lure Aaron Rodgers to Denver. When that deal could not be made, he had to figure out something so trading for Wilson was the fall-back option. But the team not only gave up too much for Wilson, they paid him too much as well.

That, in addition to the horrible signings of Randy Gregory and Frank Clark, among others, should lead to an immediate dismissal of Paton at this point.

The Broncos will get a chance to clean this up but how long that will take is anyone's guess. The team will have plenty of options in deciding who the quarterback of the future is going to be.

But this should leave an incredibly bad taste in the mouths of Broncos Country and not directed toward Wilson at all. Rather than cheering and saying "Good, Russ is gone... he's cooked" fans should look at the front office with complete disgust.

If this quarterback knew for months that he was likely playing on limited time with this team, no wonder why he might not have had the best attitude and no wonder why this team has played so poorly at times this season, and.... no wonder why the Patriots came into Denver and stole Christmas.

Greg Penner and Sean Payton have some serious work to do but to put this kind of failure at the feet of the quarterback that the organization gave up so much to get is passing the buck at an embarrassing level. And even if they aren't blaming Russ publicly, there is definitely more to the story going on behind the scenes.

And quite frankly, it's unacceptable for this franchise.