Mercifully, the 2018 season has come to a close for the Denver Broncos.
The end came in the uninspiring form of a 23-9 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers Sunday at Broncos Stadium at Mile High.
Despite intercepting Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers on two of the Chargers first three series, the Broncos could not take advantage. The offense was only able to generate gain 22 yards on the two possessions after the turnovers.
Los Angeles got on the scoreboard first. Broncos running back Royce Freeman could not secure a lateral and Kyle Emanuel of the Chargers scooped up the loose ball and raced 18 yards to the end zone to put LA up 7-0 with 5:32 left in the second quarter.
Then the Chargers built a 14-3 lead on Rivers' three-yard touchdown pass to Mike Williams at the 3:46 mark of the third.
The Broncos only touchdown came on Case Keenum's 20-yard TD toss to Andy Janovich with 10:10 remaining in the game.
The Broncos end the season with a 6-10 record, their first back-to-back losing seasons since 1971-72.
After going 5-11 in 2017, the Broncos have had back-to-back seasons with at least 10 losses for the first time since 1966-67.
They lost five of their last six home games.
There has been much speculation about the future of head coach Vance Joseph. He told KOA NewsRadio Voice of the Broncos Dave Logan after the game he expects to be back next season.
"I do expect to be back," Joseph said. "Coaches get fired when they lose the culture and guys stop playing. That hasn't happened with our football team."
"I know I work for the Broncos and we have high expectations. We won five games the first year and six games the second year. That's not good enough. This is a great staff and we have good, young players. I think we're building something."
"We have to go back to the drawing board and figure out exactly where we are and move forward. I think we've done enough work here this year to come back the third year to try to finish it and make it right," Joseph said.
Hear the entire interview below.
Check out KOA NewsRadio Broncos-Chargers first half highlights.
Here are the second half highlights.
KOA NewsRadio Broncos-Chargers postgame interviews.