Kiszla: After playoff ticket ripped to shreds in Vegas, pressure’s on Broncos general manager George Paton to fix this mess

LAS VEGAS — They can quit pretending to be somebody now. In a city built on broken dreams, where every fool thinks his lousy luck is about to change, the Broncos finally crapped out and boarded a plane home after a 17-13 loss to Las Vegas ripped their ticket to the NFL playoffs to shreds.

“At the end of the day, we knew this was a win-or-go-home type of situation, and we didn’t do enough,” Broncos defensive end Shelby Harris said Sunday.

So let’s end the delusional thinking, this crazy, naïve notion that all that’s standing between the Broncos and playoff contention is incompetence on the sideline.

While Pat Shurmur isn’t qualified to coordinate a kids’ birthday party, much less a complex NFL offense, and Vic Fangio is a good soul not emotionally wired to be a head coach, they are far from the biggest problems with this team.

Broncos general manager George Paton has to find better players, starting at quarterback, or he won’t last long in employment of the team’s next owner. The honeymoon’s over, George.

While cornerback Pat Surtain II and running back Javonte Williams were fine draft choices, they don’t mean diddly unless Paton can coax Russell Wilson out of Seattle or convince Green Bay to move Aaron Rodgers from the frozen tundra to the Rocky Mountains.

In three seasons on the job, Fangio’s record against the Raiders and Chiefs, the two teams most despised by the denizens of Broncos Country, is 1-10. That alone is reason enough to get him fired, because if Paton tries to sell the return of Uncle Vic to frustrated masses in 2022, there will be bile and blood.

So let’s stop living on the prayer that there are so many “meh” teams in the NFL that enough of them will fall down at Denver’s feet and allow the Broncos to step over that stinkin’ heap of mediocrity and slip into the playoffs through the back door.

After an interception by linebacker Bradley Chubb allowed the Broncos to take a 13-7 lead at halftime, they let the opportunity slip through their hands, most notably when tight end Albert Okwuegbunam dropped a pass deep in Las Vegas territory late in the fourth quarter.

“Uncharacteristic of him and it hurts me for him,” quarterback Drew Lock said. “But I know it will hurt him tremendously for the next couple days.”

Lock proved nothing in this game except he can do a bad imitation of Teddy Bridgewater and lead drives that can’t get out of neutral much less find a high gear.

“I don’t view it as the season over or anything like that.” Fangio said.

Well, I hate to break it to Uncle Vic, but the analysts over at the website FiveThirtyEight now give the Broncos less than a one-in-a-thousand chance to make the playoffs. Pigs have a better chance of flying.

When I listen to Uncle Vic talk, I hear the voice of Wade Phillips. Phillips is a Hall of Fame defensive coordinator. Fangio is a Hall of Fame defensive coordinator. But just as Phillips was the wrong head coach for the Broncos in 1994, Fangio is the wrong man to lead the team back to playoff relevancy now. I’m not ashamed to admit being fond of Uncle Vic. He’s good people with a saucy sense of humor few know. I wish the Broncos could ask him to step aside from the top job and retain him as defensive coordinator. But that’s not how these things work.

But the Broncos lost to the hated Rai-duhs because former first-round pick Jerry Jeudy has trouble running routes to the first-down stick and would have a hard time finding the end zone with Siri giving him turn-by-turn directions. After 25 games as a pro, Jeudy has caught three touchdown passes. He’s not a draft bust, but he certainly ain’t Justin Jefferson, selected by Minnesota seven picks after Jeudy went off the board at No. 15 overall in 2020.

For the second time in as many games, with money and playoff dreams on the line, Brandon McManus whiffed on a field goal from beyond 50 yards. Yes, the 55-yarder he missed against the Raiders was no chip shot, but McManus isn’t paid $4.2 million per season to grouse at Denver coaches for not getting him off the sideline quick enough after failing to do his job.