After losing 33-10 to Kansas City in Week 16, the Broncos are officially eliminated from playoff contention. Next week’s game with Oakland is essentially meaningless other than spoiling the Raiders’ chances of a bye week.

The matchup with Kansas City went as well as the rest of the Broncos’ games last month. The run game was nonexistent, the passing game was less than mediocre and a fairly solid defensive performance was wasted yet again. It is clear this franchise has a ton of work to do this offseason.

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Firstly, Donald Stephenson must be cut before the team gets on the plane home. Probably the biggest free agent bust of GM John Elway’s tenure, Stephenson committed five penalties and was put on skates by Kansas City’s defensive lineman all night. In honor of the holiday season, I will stop here.

The Broncos really did not do anything well offensively. However, compared to past performances, was not their worst one.

Trevor Siemian struggled to connect on anything. In a game where the Chiefs were missing their best pass-rusher (Justin Houston), the young QB perennially struggled against the blitz. Siemian led this offense to a total of 36 points over the last four weeks (9 points per-game), and now that the team has nothing to play for, The team should play Paxton Lynch next week.

Defensively, the Broncos did not put their best put forward either but played well enough to keep them in the game in spite of a horrific offensive performance. The Chiefs finished the game with 33 points, but they were on the field for the entirety of the game, and they definitely were not to blame tonight.

Week 16 was the sad final note on an incredibly disappointing season. Expectations were probably unrealistic after losing both starting quarterbacks from a year ago, but no one guessed it would be this bad.

This is still one of the most talented teams in the NFL, so if they can get healthy and make the right moves this offseason, the Broncos should once again compete for the playoffs in 2017.