Shannon Sharpe believes his former team Denver Broncos have officially hit rock-bottom
The Denver Broncos have hit a new low in 2022, firing head coach Nathaniel Hackett after a brutal 51-14 showing. Russell Wilson threw three interceptions, Brett Rypien threw another for a touchdown, and the vaunted defense allowed Baker Mayfield (on his second team this season after being waived) to dice them up to the tune of 86 percent completion percentage.
Shannon Sharpe didn't mince words when discussing the state of the 2022 Broncos on Undisputed.
The NFL Hall of Famer said:
"It can't be any lower than what they are right now. They're lower than whale p**p right now at the bottom of the sea, last in a lot of statistical categories. And that's not what they expected when they traded all of what they traded and paid Russell Wilson."
He added that they had no other recourse than to sack Hackett:
"This was the right decision. The team had lost confidence in Nathaniel Hackett... The defense came in third, had only given up an average of 18 points a game and they gave up 51 against a team with a bad, banged up quarterback that's only been there for like 24 hours. That's unacceptable."
The Broncos will turn to interim head coach Jerry Rosman and try to hire someone to fix the team, especially Russell Wilson, in the offseason.
What went wrong for the Denver Broncos?
This season has been a cascading waterfall of poor choices by the Denver Broncos. A head coach can make a bad quarterback look passable, and a good quarterback can make a bad head coach useful.
The Broncos misfired on bringing in Hackett, who was way out of his depth as a head coach. Unfortunately, Wilson regressed and wasn't nearly good enough to make it work.
The decision to trade for Wilson hurts twofold. For starters, they gave up so many assets for him. Secondly, they extended him on a $253 million contract before he even took a snap.
A good head coach (Sean Payton, perhaps) can fix Wilson, but it's clear he probably won't be the Pro Bowler he was in Seattle anymore.