The Denver Broncos on March 7, 2016, laid their offense to rest.
In lieu of flowers, please send explosive plays, run-game commitment, fewer penalties, sustained drives, more touchdowns or any semblance of hope to Broncos Country.
Recommended Stories
▶
Do you remember the press conference? It’s been 10 years, seven months and three days since legendary Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning rode off into the retirement sunset with a Lombardi Trophy. He said: “I couldn’t have made a better decision coming out to play these last four years in Denver.” The Broncos offense has never truly recovered from his departure.
Numbers don’t lie.
The Broncos — over their next 10 seasons (2016-2025) — averaged 325.2 yards and 20.3 points per game. They’ve ranked in the bottom half of the NFL in both categories for most of the last decade. Denver cycled through 10 different play callers — Gary Kubiak, Mike McCoy, Bill Musgrave, Rich Scangarello, Pat Shurmur, Nathaniel Hackett, Klint Kubiak, Justin Outten and Sean Payton — over that span.
The post-Manning hangover continues in 2026 with another disappointing plot twist. Davis Webb is out as play caller after just four games in his offensive coordinator debut. Payton returns as the voice in quarterback Bo Nix’s helmet on Sunday when the Broncos face the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium.
“I think everybody was a little shocked,” said Ryan Harris, the Broncos starting right tackle in 2015 on their Super Bowl-winning team.
Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix, left, confers with offensive coordinator Davis Webb during a practice at the team’s NFL football training camp Friday, Aug. 7, 2026, in Centennial, Colo. (David Zalubowski, The Associated Press)
Why does it matter?
The Webb-Nix relationship proved essential to Denver’s rise to reclaim the AFC West, clinch a No. 1 seed, and then finally win a playoff game. Webb’s profile as quarterback coach kept rising. The Raiders and Ravens interviewed him for their respective head coaching vacancies. Payton faced the prospect of losing Webb unless he offered more responsibility.
Promotion granted. But it’s difficult to know how much responsibility Webb actually earned in four games. Read between the lines when Payton spoke about the benefits of taking back his call sheet.
“The hard thing, when you are not the head coach, is certainly there are things you want to feel like are cleared,” Payton said. “When you’re calling (plays) as the head coach, you’re in your mind prepared to say, ‘I don’t have to run it by anyone.’ So, it’s changing things up and really trying to reduce some of the calories.”
The Broncos always billed this as a true collaboration. Webb calling a Payton offense. It made sense on paper. But the need for Webb to have his plays “cleared” by Payton suggests the head coach had more leverage than previously expected. Webb said all the right things when asked about Payton taking back his call sheet.
Webb also quipped: “I know he’s itching, and we’ll see how it goes.”
Translation? Be careful what you wish for, coach.
The NFL’s most genius play caller might struggle with the many self-inflicted problems facing this Broncos offense. They’ve been outscored 43-13 in the first half. A common theme is 29 penalties. Quarterback Bo Nix, wide receiver Courtland Sutton and running back J.K. Dobbins have not played up to their 2025 standard.
The Broncos are 2-2 with one of the NFL’s toughest early-season schedules.
“When you look at it objectively for Davis Webb, you’re one of the top teams in the NFL in penalties. How good can you call plays if you’re constantly off schedule?” Harris told The Denver Gazette. “Everybody has got to improve, and it does send a message to the team. If things aren’t going well, we are going to make changes. At the end of the day, you want that as a player. The worst thing as a player is if you come in after having some challenges, and the coach says, ‘We’re not going to change anything.’ It’s like, hold on, we need to change everything. I credit Sean Payton for making a change to show his team that this entire staff is in to win this season.”
Now, some less obvious fallout from the Webb demotion.
Payton is masterful and bending the press to push his narrative. All of the pressure related to the struggling offense has been relieved from the shoulders of Webb and Nix.
The outcome Sunday might be a false flag. Beating a terrible Chargers team won’t prove much, even on the road. The real test will be on Thursday night when the defending Super Bowl champion Seahawks visit Empower Field. There are three possible outcomes.
The Broncos go 2-4, and Payton is a pariah.
The Broncos go 3-3, and the jury is still out.
The Broncos go 4-2, and Payton is justified in pulling the rug on Webb.
“It’s going to be really interesting to see how this pans out,” Harris said.