BroncoTalk Offseason Award – Least Improved Offense

The BroncoTalk Offseason Awards continue! There are only 2 weeks left for the BOAs – next time it’s the grand daddy of them all, the Best Picture of the Offseason Awards, “Best Offseason.” But before that we have to celebrate the worst offseason awards… but even before that, we’ve still got to take care of business with the offense awards.

And I have to tell you, debating to myself which team’s offense suffered from the strongest amount of sucktitude was a lot of fun. In all honesty, much like my Pick ‘Em Monday where the Patriots won a few days ago, there was a clear cut winner and a heated battle for the rest. No doubt the winner today had the least improved offense and will be in the running for worst offseason overall.

But for the sake of being thorough, I started with the top 16 offenses from last year and looked at who lost a playmaker or two. I looked at both total offense and scoring offense. An offensive coach getting fired can hurt your chances (San Diego, San Francisco); a few linemen retiring could definitely hurt your chances (Kansas City); losing any of those playmakers would hurt as well. Then I looked at the lower half of the stats (where sadly the Broncos fell last year) and looked for the same things (Green Bay). I found less here, but I also considered teams whose offenses were so horribly bad, yet didn’t bother to make the moves to improve (Minnesota, Tennessee).

But ultimately it came down to the team I knew would win it (or lose it, depending on your point of view) all along – the team who lost their Pro Bowl quarterback; they thinned their already thin receiving corps.; they lost another key offensive lineman through retirement; their biggest playmaker is threatening a holdout; their record-holding tight end got a year older. If you haven’t figured it out yet, you don’t belong in the AFC West…

The BroncoTalk Offseason Award for Least Improved Offense goes to…

The Kansas City Chiefs for losing just about every playmaker they have!

HONORABLE MENTIONS:
2. New York Giants
3.Tennessee Titans
4. Minnesota Vikings

The Kansas City Chiefs finished 2nd in the division last year, ahead of the Broncos, and squeezed into the playoffs only to lose in Week 1 to the Colts. Their offense never got it going – whether you blame Trent Green for his post-insanely-massive concussion syndrome or not, Larry Johnson couldn’t get anything going against the regular season’s worst rush defense. Their offensive output was just pitiful.

Take that dreadful playoff performance and take away another key part of their offensive line in Will Shields. Now take away their former Pro Bowl quarterback. Then perform the worst trade by sending off Dante Hall to the Rams for next to nothing. Overpay for your aging tight end; refuse to pay your record-setting runningback; keep your head coach who killed your offense last year. That, my friends, is the recipe for one of the quickest disasters in offense anyone has seen in a long time.

I think the Chiefs’ defense has improved, but their offense is so bad now that it’s hard to take them seriously. They win this one hands down, only somewhat closely followed by the Giants, who lost Tiki Barber and Luke Petigout this offseason.

A brewing quarterback controversy between an aging veteran journeyman backup and an injury-prone young untested third rounder is no way to get fans excited. The Chiefs may struggle more than their fans want to realize as the Broncos and Chargers, and even possibly the Raiders, pass them by in the AFC West.