Russell Wilson Falls on the Sword: 'I Let us Down Tonight'

The Denver Broncos' quarterback was clearly shaken, but resolved, following Thursday night's loss.

The harsh reality of the Denver Broncos' current slump is that the team looks far worse than its losing record suggests. For a franchise that has committed $245 million to its new quarterback, not to mention a string of other assets, Russell Wilson's performance levels are simply baffling and, frankly, unacceptable.

Wilson isn't hiding from the situation he and the Broncos now find themselves in, and insisted that if the narrative is going to change, it all boils down to him.

“It’s very simple," Wilson said post-game. "At the end of the day, I have to be better. I have to play better.

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The current incarnation of the Broncos is a hot mess of dysfunction on offense and has only six touchdowns this season. Before a future Hall-of-Famer is missing a wide-open KJ Hamler in the end zone on the game’s final play, which would have been the overtime-winner, you know a greater ill is eating away at Wilson.

Entering the game, Wilson downplayed the severity of a shoulder injury he was seen managing during the defeat against Las Vegas. He also took a trip inside the medics' blue tent against the Indianapolis Colts on Thursday night to be examined for a possible concussion.

Wilson is undoubtedly not without his faults to bear, and he was said to have sat despondently in the locker post-game while deep in conversation with head coach Nathaniel Hackett for some 45 minutes without even taking his uniform off.

The rapid-fire post-mortem would certainly have been plenty ugly, but afterward, Wilson doubled down on all the working-things-out talking points.

"The good thing is that one thing I know about myself is [that] I'm going to respond," Wilson said. "I don't know any other way. I always believe in myself. I always believe in this team. I believe in what we can do. I believe in what I can do."

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At this juncture, it's fair to say Rome has already caught fire, but Hackett remained calm in the face of adversity and pointed towards the team's extended layoff being a positive factor.

"I know Russell feels bad about that game, but it's not just on him," Hackett said post-game. "It's on all of us. It's on the entire team, and for us to learn from this and grow, grow from all five games that we've had. We've got a little time off. Everybody can take a breath."

That being said, problems continue to mount, with left tackle Garett Bolles suffering a broken leg, which will now sideline him many weeks. This is bad news, especially for a Broncos offensive line that is already putting its quarterback in harm's way regularly.

Wilson is unquestionably extremely twitchy in the pocket right now, and he isn’t seeing the field particularly well, either. Both his first interception of the night, and his final errant pass, were symptomatic of his tendency to fall off his passes as a direct result.

"I felt like I let us down tonight," Wilson lamented. "In this locker room, we believe in what we can do. There’s a lot of season left, there’s a lot of opportunity left, [and] there’s a lot of belief. [With] how great the defense is doing, if we can to turn it around on offense—how quickly we can turn it around on offense. That’s the key. We just have to keep battling and keep believing.”

Wilson’s lack of confidence could be attributed to running an offense that isn’t really being tailored to his skill set, but he is making life mighty hard for himself at the same time.

Both crucial factors go hand-in-hand, but make no bones about it; unless something changes over the next 10 days, the Broncos' entire season might go up in smoke.

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