Vance Joseph sat in a metal chair in the far corner of the Broncos’ grand auditorium flashing a boyish smile he couldn’t hide, try as he might. In his hands were folded notes for his first speech as the Broncos’ head coach and by his side was John Elway, his new boss and a guy notorious for his competitive edge and intolerance for mediocrity.

Joseph’s wife, Holly, and two children — son Stone and daughter Nataly — sat in the front row as he told of his vision and of his plan and of the pressure-packed opportunity.

“Most jobs that are taken by a first-time head coach or most jobs that are open, it’s a rebuild,” Joseph said that January afternoon. “This job is not broken. It’s a reboot.”

Of course Joseph understood the expectations, and he admitted that he prefers jobs in which winning “four or five games isn’t OK,” and he was able to say confidently at the time that “when you don’t make the playoffs it’s probably a team issue.”

“I’ve watched the offense and I’ve watched the quarterbacks and the problem was moving the ball,” he said of the Broncos’ disappointing 2016 season. “You win at all three phases and you lose the same way.” Related Articles Broncos Briefs: Phillip Lindsay doubtful to play Sunday, but progressing from toe injury

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Joseph believed that day that he was rattling off all the things that would be corrected by the Broncos in 2017. But in hindsight, he seemed to foretell the team’s ultimate undoing. The season that began with great promise is ending with tremendous uncertainty in nearly every facet.

And the reboot Joseph anticipated in January is suddenly looking a lot like a rebuild.

“If you look at the leadership that we have here — two times not going to the playoffs is just not going to ride,” said outside linebacker Von Miller. “There are going to be some drastic changes this offseason and I’m all for it. I want to get back in the mode to being competitive and winning.”

In the coming days and weeks, the Broncos will determine just how drastic those changes need to be and how close they really are to becoming a Super Bowl contender again.

But first, a final audition.

The grand finale

One game stands between the Broncos’ push to 2018 and end to 2017. Sunday’s meeting with the Kansas City Chiefs will be one for youth, as rookie quarterback Patrick Mahomes starts for the red team and second-year quarterback Paxton Lynch starts for the blue team.

It will be the fourth start of Lynch’s career and possibly a final shot to show what he has before Elway and Co. decide the direction of the Broncos’ future.

In recent weeks, however, as the Broncos have limped to the finish line, Elway has dropped hints about which way he’s headed as he’s attended bowl game after bowl game. He was there to see Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. He was there to see Southern California’s Sam Darnold in the Cotton Bowl. He might be there to see Heisman Trophy winner Baker Mayfield in the Rose Bowl, and he certainly will be there to see Mayfield in the Senior Bowl.

What Elway is looking for is the same thing he looked for in 2016, before he drafted Lynch in the first round.

“You get to see them on tape and a lot of times when you go to games, you go there to kind of see them on the hoof and see them live and see how they react on the sidelines and look at what they’re doing, not necessarily during the play, but when the play is over and what they do on the sidelines between series,” Elway said on the Broncos’ partnering radio station.

“… Plus when you talk about evaluating a quarterback, 50 percent of that is the physical side and the other 50 percent is trying to figure out what their makeup is — if they can fit and handle the situation of being in the NFL. Having that job in the NFL is a big job and there are times when the world caves in, and trying to figure out how they’re going to handle when the world is caving in, because at some point in time for everybody, the world will cave in on them and it’s how they react to it.”

Elway’s itinerary is packed this winter to exhaust all options because, while the Broncos emphasize that Lynch needs time and needs reps and needs more opportunities, the reality is time is running out.

“We know he’s got the physical talent,” Elway told the Broncos’ website, “but it’d be good for him to get the mental experience and get out there and compete and play against somebody else. … That would be a successful week, if he goes out and goes to the right spots with the ball and makes the right decisions and, hopefully, win the football game.”

Despite their weeks-long plan to get Lynch on the field one last time to see how he’d react, how he’d respond (or not respond) to adversity in 60 minutes of live reps, the Broncos had two years to build an assessment. They saw him in practices, in meetings, how he returned from offseasons, how he handled starting competitions, how he worked his way back from injury.

After two years, they know.

“I think it’s going to be good to see Paxton and see how he plays for the second time,” cornerback Chris Harris said. “… It’s about consistency on that side. He’s definitely going to need to play well to show that he can be the guy next year.”

Eyes on the coach

When the Broncos leave Sports Authority Field at Mile High for the final time this season, some will trickle off to Magness Arena on the University of Denver campus for a star-studded New Year’s Eve party. Some, primarily coaches, will head back to Dove Valley to begin evaluations. Then all will regroup at Broncos headquarters the next morning to clean out their lockers for what is dreadfully known as “Black Monday,” the day many coaching jobs are terminated in the NFL.

This year, more than ever, nearly every Denver player and coach is a candidate to be shown the exits.

“You never know what’s going to happen,” Harris said. “We don’t know if we’re going to rebuild or are we trying to win a Super Bowl next year. We don’t know the plans. Everybody’s just trying to put good film out there on the field this week, go hard and be pros.”

As Elway searches for help at quarterback, among other positions, much attention will be on Joseph and his coaching staff.

Since Week 6 against the then-winless Giants, the Broncos were a consistently inconsistent mess, with all three quarterbacks rotating through every slot — starter, backup, inactive — twice, with a coordinator fired in between and the dubious feats piling up.

After 16 weeks, it can no longer be a surprise the Broncos are 5-10 when they have amassed 31 turnovers that have led to a jaw-dropping 135 points by opponents and, including Sunday’s outing by Lynch, five starting quarterback changes.

They lost their way. They lost their identity. And inevitably, fingers point to the man leading the pack.

“Obviously, it’s been a tough year for us,” Joseph said. “And you learn as a coach that you can’t ride the ups and downs of the season. You have to stay consistent because the message comes from the coach. So when things are not going right, I can’t walk in and change my overall behavior when it comes to doing things right. I can’t panic, and hopefully I didn’t.”

Since Pat Bowlen purchased the team in 1984, the Broncos have never had a one-and-done coach. In franchise history, only three Broncos head coaches posted winning seasons in their first full years with the team. And throughout NFL history, scores of coaching greats began their careers with losing seasons.

But the Broncos’ 10 losses this year were doozies — eight by double digits, five by 15 points or more and one a shutout, the team’s first in nearly 25 years.

Although there is a prevailing belief that Sunday’s game against the Chiefs could make or break Joseph’s future with the Broncos — that an embarrassing blowout would be the final straw, or that a close game or win would keep him in the fold — after 15 games this year, Elway and the Broncos have likely seen all they need. Like the quarterbacks, they know what they have in Joseph.

And they have heard countless times how players see him, too, and how they regard his first year with context.

“I love V.J. He’s a great coach. I stand behind him 100 percent,” linebacker Todd Davis said.

“He’s just a truthful coach. It was just a tough hand that he was dealt,” Miller added. “I feel that Coach V.J. is one of my favorite coaches that I have ever played with. I could relate to Coach (John) Fox and (Gary) Kubiak and all of those guys. But Coach V.J. taking on the job that he had and still trying to finish the way that he is trying to finish, I respect him for that. I respect him for not changing and being the exact same coach that he was Day One in the spring that he is today. I respect him for that.”

But the Broncos have one more showing before their plans for 2018 will begin to come into shape and looming questions will be answered.

“We still have good players. We have a great staff,” Joseph said Thursday. “We have great support here from the operations side of things. It’s been a winning program for a long time, so that part is not going to change. We have to make some tweaks, obviously, to get back to where we want to be.

“But I think we’re really close.”

First impressions

How Vance Joseph’s first season — or at least the first 16 weeks — with the Broncos compare with other rookie head coaches in the NFL this year:

Sean McVay, Los Angeles Rams (11-4, NFC West champions)

Sean McDermott, Buffalo Bills (8-7, No. 2 in AFC East)

Anthony Lynn, Los Angeles Chargers (8-7, No. 2 in AFC West)

Vance Joseph, Denver Broncos (5-10)

Kyle Shanahan, San Francisco 49ers (5-10)

How Joseph’s first year compares to the first full seasons of past Broncos head coaches. Only three finished with a winning record:

Frank Filchock, 1960 (4-9-1)

Jack Faulkner, 1962 (7-7)

Mac Speedie, 1965 (4-10)

Lou Saban, 1967 (3-11)

John Ralson, 1972 (5-9)

Red Miller, 1977 (12-2, AFC champions)

Dan Reeves, 1981 (10-6)

Wade Phillips, 1993 (9-7)

Mike Shanahan, 1995 (8-8)

Josh McDaniels, 2009 (8-8)

John Fox, 2011 (8-8)

Gary Kubiak, 2015 (12-4, won Super Bowl 50)

Vance Joseph, 2017 (5-10 through Week 16)