CINCINNATI – As they sauntered off quietly in a heavy rain, heads held high, but feelings hurt from defeat, playoff bust seemed like a safer bet than the Super Bowl champion.
Losing, 37-28, to the very good and desperate Cincinnati Bengals on a Monday night game is hardly reason for shame.
Still, the Broncos have some work to do and adjustments to make if they are to reach Glendale, Ariz., site of this season’s Super Bowl.
“I learned a long time ago it doesn’t matter how you start the race it’s how you finish,” said Broncos coach John Fox. “We’ll step back from tonight, we’ll learn from it, we’ll analyze and decipher went wrong and hopefully get it fixed.”
It was such a monumental game that it mattered little how it was played, only whether it was won or lost.
The loss means there will not be another No. 1 AFC playoff seed for the Broncos. Barring the No. 1-seeded New England Patriots suffering an upset in their second-round playoff game on January 11, the Broncos’ path to the Super Bowl will run through Foxborough, Mass.
“We’ve still got ourselves in a pretty good position,” said Broncos receiver Demaryius Thomas, who had seven catches for 115 yards, but also had a questionable facemask call that brought back a huge gain in the fourth quarter. “We have to play better next week and beat Oakland. If we get the second seed and the bye, whatever we did to this point will be behind us. It’s all about playoffs from there.”
The Broncos can clinch the No. 2 seed and a first-round playoff bye by defeating Oakland next Sunday at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. But the Raiders (3-12) have not been the pushovers they were earlier this season as they have won three of their past five games.
Should the Broncos fall to No. 3 seed, they would lose a much-needed first-round playoff bye to heal their battered bodies.
The Bengals, meanwhile, improved to 10-4-1 to clinch their fourth consecutive playoff berth in the four-year Andy Dalton era. Dalton hasn’t won a playoff game, yet. And this was only his third win in nine “primetime” games.
Still, as the players gathered at midfield beneath a steady rain to shake hands near midnight Tuesday, the Bengals felt better about themselves as the season reached its 11th hour than did the Broncos.
PHOTOS: Denver Broncos vs. Cincinnati Bengals, Dec. 22, 2014
While concern regarding the Broncos is justified, history says Super Bowl hopes do not vanish in a loss in game 15 of a 16-game regular season. Since the NFL became a week-to-week mob of mediocrity, four of the past eight Super Bowl champions have lost their penultimate game – including last season’s Seattle Seahawks and Peyton Manning’s 2006 Indianapolis Colts.
What is most puzzling about the Broncos as they get ready for the second season is Manning, who threw four interceptions. He struggled early as the Broncos were continuing to seek offensive balance in the first half. He got hot in the third quarter, throwing three touchdown passes, as the Broncos chucked their run-pass balance in exchange for the singular benefits of their quarterback’s right arm.
But then it started pouring rain in the fourth quarter and Manning’s passing seemingly became too much of a good thing.
“We have to find a way to learn from this,” Manning said.
“No excuses, we’ve got to play better as an offense,” said receiver Emmanuel Sanders, who caught two touchdowns but was wincing afterwards with back spasms. “Rain, sleet, snow, we’ve got to get better.”
Down 20-7 at half, Manning led the Broncos to three touchdown drives in the third quarter, finishing off two with scoring passes to Sanders.
The Broncos were up, 28-27 entering the fourth quarter. But as the rain fell, Manning’s passing went awry. He threw three interceptions in the quarter, the second a pick six by cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick that gave Cincinnati a 37-28 lead with 2:41 remaining.
“Nobody’s worried aobut him, he’s fine,” Thomas said of Manning. “If he wasn’t fine, he wouldn’t be playing.”
Given one more drive, Manning initially moved the ball with a short pass to running back C.J. Anderson and another run by Anderson that turned into sizeable gains of 20 and 26 yards. But Manning would throw his third interception of the quarter, fourth of the game, with 1:07 remaining, again by Kirkpatrick.
Manning finished 28 of 44 for 311 yards and two touchdowns, but his four picks resulted in a weak 61.8 rating.
With 1 minute, 3 seconds left in the first half, the Broncos’ offense had 10 running plays and 10 passing plays. Perfect balance.
The score, though, was tilted in the Bengals’ favor 20-7. The balance didn’t help Manning’s passing. He was 5-of-10 for 41 yards with an interception that led to a Cincinnati score during the period of balance.
In the Broncos’ next 26 plays, they had 21 passes against five runs. Their unbalanced attack gave them a 28-27 lead entering the fourth quarter. Manning was 16-of-20 during this time of little balance, for 215 yards and two touchdown passes to Sanders.
The first half brought back nightmares of the St. Louis game. You know, where it all had supposedly changed for the Broncos’ offense.
The Broncos scored a three year-low seven points against the Rams, prompting Denver coach John Fox to demand more running plays to balance out Manning’s pass-happy offense.
For the most part, it worked. The Broncos won four in a row. Running back Anderson rushed for 167 and 168 yards in back-to-back games, although he had slowed considerably in the past two games.
But against the Bengals, that bad Broncos’ offense returned. The offensive line struggled, in particular all-pro left tackle Ryan Clady, who was returning from a strained right quadriceps that forced him to miss most of the previous game in San Diego.
When Manning senses pressure, he gets rid of the ball quickly but the Bengals’ secondary was cheating up in coverage. With 1:03 left in the half, and the Broncos down 20-7, Manning was just 5-of-10 for 41 yards with an interception that set up a Bengals touchdown.
Anderson reached halftime with just 37 yards on 11 carries.
Although Manning passed the Broncos into long field-goal range, Connor Barth missed his first of the season as his 49-yard attempt hooked left.
About all that kept the Broncos in it was the shaky performance of Dalton. The Cincinnati quarterback entered play with a horrible big-game résumé. In playoffs (0-3) and prime-time games (2-6) combined, he was 2-9 with eight touchdown passes against 15 interceptions.
He “padded” those stats early in the first quarter when he threw high to an open A.J. Green on a simple slant route — one of the easiest passes to complete. Dalton’s pass hummed high off Green’s hands and ricocheted back to where Broncos cornerback Aqib Talib made a terrific lunging catch.
Talib got up and while carrying the ball Deion “Prime Time” Sanders’ style – loosely with one hand, high-stepping as he cut — went 33 yards for a touchdown.
Talib’s second pick six of the season and sixth of this career was celebrated for not even one play. For on the first play of the next possession, Bengals running back Jeremy Hill – a strong NFL offensive rookie of the year candidate – broke a tackle by Broncos linebacker Todd Davis in the backfield, then made two open-field cuts that freed him for an 85-yard touchdown play.
Two Bengals’ offensive plays. Two touchdowns. 7-7.
Mike Klis: mklis@denverpost.com or twitter.com/mikeklis
