5 reasons the Denver Broncos won’t make the playoffs

3. Poor quarterback play

The Denver Broncos offense is currently ranked 28th in the NFL in yards per game. Trevor Siemian has demonstrated that he shouldn’t be a starting NFL quarterback despite votes of confidence from his teammates. Though he’s played relatively mistake-free football in his eight starts, he hasn’t made many plays either. Siemian’s unwillingness to take shots down field has led to defenses sitting on shorter routes and daring him to throw deep. Over the Broncos 4-0 start, Siemian completed 67.3 percent of his passes, a good rate. Defenses got game tape on Siemian since then, however, and have responded accordingly. In the Broncos last four games, he has completed only 54.6 percent of his throws and the Broncos passing game has suffered.

The play of Siemian has left many Broncos fans clamoring for rookie first round pick Paxton Lynch to take over at quarterback. The 6-foot-7, 244-pound Lynch has a great frame with a rocket arm and possesses all the tools to play quarterback at the NFL level. But the rookie played a simplistic spread offense in college and isn’t ready to command Gary Kubiak’s pro offense. He didn’t impress enough in his game and a half filling in for Siemian to suggest readiness either. If Lynch was impressing in practice and creating dissent in the Broncos locker room over whether or not he should be starter, then his teammates likely wouldn’t have given Siemian a vote of confidence in electing him captain. Lynch may be the long-term answer in Denver at quarterback, but there’s nothing to suggest that he’ll be ready this season. Unfortunately for the Broncos, the answer for this season probably isn’t in their locker room.