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Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson gets to play against the Cardinals on Sunday, a rare winnable game for a beleaguered Denver team. Wilson won’t even be in uniform.
It’s the Broncos’ smart move.
Wilson’s concussion at week 14 was more staggering than most as his head rammed into the ground. He was dazed. He literally had a bump on his head, like Pete Puma, in a Bugs Bunny pun.
And what’s the point of pushing him back? The Broncos are eliminated. Ownership has certainly decided what to do with coach Nathaniel Hackett after the season ends. And even if they didn’t, there’s no reason to think defeating the even more beleaguered Cardinals will change anything.
The season is lost. Nothing that happens on Sunday will change that. If Wilson plays, he could suffer another concussion.
The real question is whether they should just turn it off for the rest of the year. If there’s a new coaching staff after the season, there’s no reason to keep playing them.
It wouldn’t be a classic “soft” tank, as the Seahawks have Denver’s first-round pick. But the Broncos have other picks that would land higher in their respective rounds, so there’s a hidden advantage when 3-10 becomes 3-14.
However, 3-14 would become Denver’s worst record since 2-7 in strike-shortened 1982 and the Broncos’ worst all-season mark since 3-11 in 1967.
So, yes, it’s an organizational decision. And it’s a smart one. We’ll see how many more wise organizational decisions are made in the coming months, if only to make up for the (in hindsight) unwise decisions of 2022.