The Denver Broncos lost a game to the division rival Oakland Raiders in rather embarrassing fashion on Monday night, going down by a score of 27-14. Pretty much nobody on the Broncos did anything all that well.
The Broncos took 11 penalties, had two turnovers, gave up a special teams touchdown, and turned 11 drives into only 14 points. And the loss dropped their record to 6-9, which means they'll finish below .500 for the second straight season -- a first for the Broncos since 1971-72. They'll look to finish the season off with a win at home against the Chargers in a game you can stream on fuboTV (Try for free).
There have been rumors surrounding the job security of Broncos coach Vance Joseph all season, and this latest loss will do nothing to quiet those rumors down. Joseph is now 11-20 in his two years as the team's coach, and it's not as though he has done much to distinguish himself as an in-game tactician, so it is perhaps not surprising that speculation about his future abounds.
Broncos quarterback Case Keenum, though, threw his support behind Joseph after the loss to the Raiders.
"Nobody likes not winning, we all hate it," Keenum said, per ESPN.com. "We want all want to play hard, we all want to win for Coach Joseph, we all love him, he's an incredible human and a great football coach. I want to play hard for him, for every guy in that locker room. That's big a part of our team, our identity, that we all stick together, love, like and respect each other, that we all fight for each other. But it's a production league, when you're not winning, it's tough."
Keenum was signed this past offseason to give the Broncos some competent production at quarterback but has largely been below-average throughout this year. Denver can save $11 million by cutting Keenum at some point this offseason, or $18 million by trading him. He's likely right in line behind Joseph in terms of the probability of being replaced by Denver after the Broncos finish out the regular season next week.
