Wilson Finally Dishes True Thoughts on Broncos' 'Wild' Season

Russell Wilson reflected on the trials and tribulations he's faced in Year 1 with the Denver Broncos.

Entering 2022, the most games Russell Wilson had ever lost as a starting quarterback in the NFL was eight. In what was his worst season in Seattle, a campaign marred by the first injury to ever cost him meaningful playing time, Wilson went 6-8 as a starter in 2021. 

Then, the Denver Broncos acquired him via trade, giving up multiple first and second-round picks, along with a trio of good players. Considering that 2021 was just one of two total seasons in which a Wilson-led team has missed the playoffs since he arrived as a day-one starter in Seattle circa 2012, it was fair to assume that his last campaign in Seattle was an outlier. 

In hindsight, sitting here with just three games left before the 2022 regular season is in the books, fans and media alike are left to wonder whether Wilson piggybacking two consecutive seasons of eight-plus losses is the new normal for the veteran quarterback. In fairness to Wilson, while he hasn't played well and has been maddeningly inconsistent as a Bronco, he's also faced some wacky factors around him that he couldn't control. 

Denver's bloated injured reserve list, which features 20 players and a league-high $60-plus million in salary-cap dollars, is the first major obstacle that has unquestionably impacted his game. Throw in an, at times, wildly incompetent rookie head coach, who hired three first-time coordinators around him, and it's also fair to wonder whether Wilson ever had a chance in 2022. 

In what amounts to another Broncos season destined for the dustbin of NFL history, Wilson reflected briefly on 2022 and the unique trials it has presented him and his new team. 

“It's been a wild season," Wilson said on Thursday. "I’ve never been a part of a season this wild—a lot of injuries, a lot of things.”

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Indeed, it's arguably been the wildest and wackiest season in post-Super Bowl 50 Broncos canon. One of the reasons for the surreal glint of this campaign is the incongruency of the sky-high expectations established in the offseason — courtesy of the Nathaniel Hackett hire and Wilson acquisition — juxtaposed with the depth of the Broncos' depredations as a team, once the games came around. 

For a good stretch of this season, the Broncos became an NFL laughing stock — a MEME. It got quite ugly there for a few weeks. And Wilson was right at the center of the vitriol and criticism being hurled by the national media toward the Front Range. 

Wilson talks like he's relishing the opportunity to compete and finish out this remaining trio of games, starting with Christmas Day's road tilt at the Los Angeles Rams, but he's likely counting the seconds 'til this one is his rear-view mirror. And who could blame him?

"I'm excited," Wilson said. "I'm excited about this game right here. This is the one that matters the most.”

One of Wilson's now canned maxims is that the next game is the one that "matters most." He has a lot of good one-liners that, six months ago, came off as hard-won NFL wisdom. His lack of results now makes them smack of canned talking points, more than a deep-rooted philosophy.

I look forward to the Broncos' 2022 campaign coming to an end, and for Wilson's sake, the opportunity to exhale, reset, and figure out how to put this atrocity behind him. This season's merciful end will also begin the Broncos' process of figuring out how to pick up the pieces and put the right coaches around Wilson to begin the process of restoring the nine-time Pro Bowler to his traditional form and getting a return on the quarter-billion-dollar investment the Walton/Penner Group made in him this past summer. 

There's no getting the egg off anyone's face at Dove Valley. Some hard truths and tough decisions will be confronted. 

On his current trajectory, Wilson is poised to finish with a career-low in passing yards, completion percentage, yards-per-attempt, touchdowns, and QB rating. The Broncos have to get to the bottom of how, as a team, they presided over the regression of one of the most consistent NFL quarterbacks of the past decade and fielded the league's lowest-scoring offense. 

That's not to absolve Wilson of his complicity in this mess. He's been the guy taking the snaps. But the Broncos have some 'splainin' to do. 

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