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Even Shanahan has no confidence in Plummer

Van Walker, Special to the News

Published November 20, 2006 at midnight

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It cannot happen soon enough.

Mike Shanahan must start Jay Cutler immediately.

If Sunday's utterly demoralizing loss to the Chargers tells us anything, it is that Shanahan has finally lost whatever confidence in Jake Plummer that none of the rest of us ever had.

As bad as he has been, at some point this has got to stop being Plummer's fault. After all, who kept running him out there for series after series, despite ineptitude that bordered on epic? Don't take my word for it, check the numbers: Without counting that final, abortive drive, Plummer's line on the day was 10 completions in 21 attempts for 137 yards, a drive-killing fumble in the first half and a game-killing interception in the second half.

Yikes.

Again, not counting the last drive, the Broncos ran 31 plays in the second half. The Mastermind called eight passes in those 31 plays. Eight. That kind of play-calling doesn't suggest a coach trying to win a game as much as one trying to limit the damage . . . and despite Mike Shanahan's best efforts, Plummer still managed to throw a game-killing interception with 3:10 left to go in regulation and his team trailing by but a single point.

Eight passes in 31 plays? Shanahan was trying to hit the Mile High Trifecta: Keep San Diego's offense off the field, keep his suddenly porous defense off the field and keep the ball out of Jake Plummer's hands, for as long as possible on all counts.

One-handed paper-hangers have easier jobs.

This is what we are reduced to: In the second half of a meaningful game, the head coach didn't trust his quarterback with the ball. If that isn't grounds for replacing Plummer with Cutler, then no such grounds exist.

And let me hear nothing about sending the wrong message about the playoffs or the Super Bowl. Yes, I'm the one who pointed out that rookie quarterbacks don't win the Big Game. But it is equally true that the Broncos will not win the Big Game with Plummer under center. This season is effectively lost as far as championship aspirations are concerned, because with Kansas City (Larry Johnson), Seattle (Shaun Alexander, healthy at last), and San Diego (that Tomlinson kid again) looming in the next three weeks, 7-6 sounds far more likely than 10-3 does.

At the risk of understatement (not to mention repetition), the Broncos can't be surprised that they are getting bitten in the rear end by Plummer's inconsistencies.

After all, like the old joke says, they knew he was a snake when they took him in.