After back-to-back weeks of borderline competent football, the Broncos resorted back to their old ways in our nation’s capital on Sunday afternoon. Brock Osweiler stayed true to his colors with sixty minutes of cold, hard, mediocrity, and the team’s “No Fly Zone” secondary was far from suffocating.

Let’s review four quick takeaways from the Broncos’ dud against the Redskins:

1. Kirk Cousins tore apart his future defense

Kirk Cousins is now sitting at 299 yards and 3 TD's on the day. Not a bad game against the league's No. 1 defense in yards allowed this season. #Redskins — Grant Paulsen (@granthpaulsen) December 24, 2017

Aside from maybe three or four people in the entire country, everyone agrees that Paxton Lynch is not an NFL starting quarterback. And with John Elway’s lack of success in the draft, it is probably crucial that the Broncos explore quarterback options through free agency only.

One of the most likely candidates to hit free agency is Redskins starting quarterback Kirk Cousins, and he put on quite a tryout for Elway and Denver’s staff.

Cousins finished the afternoon by completing 19 of his 37 pass attempts for 299 yards and three touchdowns. His lone mistake came on an ill-advised pass that was picked off deep in the Denver end zone by Broncos safety Will Parks.

If this was any kind of sneak peek at what Cousins could possibly bring Denver next season, Elway should be all in come free agency.

2. Isaiah McKenzie’s clock management skills resemble his punt return skills

The fact that Isaiah McKenzie hasn't been cut by Denver, and thus is still out there making stupefying errors, is a franchise failure. — Pat Forde (@YahooForde) December 24, 2017

Everyone wants to like rookie wideout Isaiah McKenzie. He is explosive, quick, and brings a set of skills to the Broncos that they really don’t have in anyone else on the roster. But mistake after mistake is making it hard to get behind him.

Late in the second quarter, Denver was driving with a chance to cut the lead down to four before the halftime whistle. With 16 seconds left in the quarter, no timeouts, and well within field goal range, Osweiler completed a pass to McKenzie who reluctantly didn’t get out of bounds when he had the opportunity. The clock ticked down to zeros before the Broncos could get another play off.

McKenzie, who lost his starting punt returning job due to his severe case of fumblitis, is showing the coaching staff that there is no reason to have any confidence in him. He needs to know the clock management situation and avoid these kinds of errors.

Seeing as the Broncos lost by much more than three points and this was essentially a meaningless game for both squads, we will give him a break. But these kinds of errors need to be cleaned up before next season if McKenzie has any wish of seeing the field.

3. C.J. Anderson and Devontae Booker turned in another solid performance

Someone should tell C.J. Anderson that he can get 2,000 yards if he runs the way he has the last two weeks for a whole season. — Ryan Koenigsberg (@RyanKoenigsberg) December 24, 2017

With how bad the Broncos’ offense has been this season, the rushing attack has been somewhat overlooked from a quietly productive season. Productive may be a strong word, but C.J. Anderson is looking to rush for over 1,000 yards for the first time in his career while Booker has looked stronger and stronger the more touches he gets.

Going into the Broncos’ matchup with the Redskins, Denver ranked 15th in the NFL with an average of 113 rushing yards per game. This number only increased after Anderson and Booker combined for 135 rushing yards against Washington with an average of 5.6 yards per carry. The two backs also combined for a total of 69 receiving yards on 12 catches.

With Denver’s struggles this season, a lot is going to change with this roster, but I don’t think that the running game has been the problem with this team and this core should remain intact.

4. Brock Osweiler played nothing like last week

So, last week, after the win vs Indy, many fans tweeted that the @broncos don't need to sign or trade for a veteran QB. "Brock Osweiler is that guy!" Still feel that way? (BTW, I told you you were crazy to think that…) #broncos — Les Shapiro (@LesShapiro) December 24, 2017

The Broncos’ quarterbacks seem to play their best when they come off the bench.

Last season, when Trevor Seimian went down with a shoulder injury against the Buccaneers, Lynch stepped into his first minutes of NFL action and looked drastically productive giving Denver fans false hope. Earlier this season, when Lynch left the game with an ankle injury against the Oakland Raiders, Siemian came in as relief and nearly brought the Broncos back from a 21-point deficit.

Last week was no different when Siemian once again went to the locker room with a shoulder injury. Osweiler came in and put on a three-touchdown performance that showed that when he is on, he might be worth the $16 million dollars the Broncos’ reportedly offered him a few years ago. Sadly enough, however, he followed it up with a total flop against a very mediocre Redskins’ pass defense.

I think we have found a trend that might be worth exploring, eh?

The Broncos will finish up this nightmare of a season by hosting the Chiefs next week.