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Dave Christie, Special to the News

Published November 20, 2006 at midnight

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With a little more than three minutes left in Sunday night's game, the Broncos lost. Not just the game itself, which was painful enough, but the Broncos lost their entire identity.

I'm sure that wasn't on Mike Shanahan's to-do list at this point in the season, but starting over is now waiting to be crossed off.



Facing a fourth-and-4 on their own 38, down by only one point and with three opportunities to stop the clock, Shanahan panicked. How else do you describe the decision to put the outcome of the game into the hands of this offense? Perhaps he'll plead insanity.

Maybe it was temporary. Shanahan called a timeout, and you had to think that whoever the guy was on the other end of that headset was talking some serious sense.



"Uh, coach? Did you get hit in the head or something? That's still Jake out there. Wanna give the defense another chance?"



The answer was no. Jake did what Jake does, and the Chargers are now looking at the Broncos in their rear-view mirror. Meanwhile, the Broncos are facing an identity crisis.



This was supposed to be the second coming of the Orange Crush. Media outlets were falling all over themselves in lame attempts to name this defense. That's all well and good for the fans, but even Shanahan bought the snake oil. The man has been game planning as if he had the 1985 Chicago Bears playing defense. While the style points left a lot to be desired (read: ugly wins), it was hard to argue with the results.

"Dominant" defense and just enough offense to win. That was Shanahan's horse, and he's riding it all the way to . . .

. . . the fourth quarter of the 10th game.



"Whoa! Thanks for the ride, big fella, but I've got to find me another horse."

Good luck. Take a look at this team, and tell me where Shanahan is going to find another horse? If he could not trust his defense at that pivotal moment, when can he?

This is not just a knee-jerk reaction to losing one big game. The fact is that Shanahan built this team on the assumption that the defense was dominant. It's not. Three weeks ago, the Broncos invoked the Peyton Manning excuse. "Hey, that's Peyton Manning. What are you gonna do?"



Ask the Cowboys. They found a way to beat him at home.

Now we'll get the LaDanian Tomlinson excuse. The Larry Johnson excuse is on deck with Shaun Alexander, LT (again) and Carson Palmer all due up.

Maybe it was reality that was on the other end of Shanahan's headset during that fourth-quarter timeout. He panicked because he finally acknowledged the truth. The defense that has been the face and identity of the Broncos can no longer be trusted. The offense will need to win games, not just manage them.

Eleven weeks into this season, Shanahan is forced to reinvent this team while making a playoff push.