Why Is Russell Wilson Benched In Week 17?

Denver Broncos head honcho Sean Payton shocked the fantasy football world by benching his superstar quarterback heading into a win-at-all-costs home game against the equally-inept Los Angeles Chargers. Wilson has gone from the $200 million franchise quarterback to the clipboard holder in a week’s time.

The former starting signal caller of the Broncos was actually in the midst of a bounce-back season. Wilson had rallied the Broncos from a dreadful 1-5 start to a 7-6 record where the team was controlling its own destiny when it came to a playoff berth. Wilson’s 26-to-8 touchdown-to-interception ratio was more in line with what he had done in past years after having a 16-to-11 ratio during his downtrodden 2022 campaign.

But after back-to-back losses that have put Denver on the verge of missing the postseason again, Payton decided a drastic change was needed to kickstart the struggling offense. So why was Wilson benched this week? Here is a closer look:

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Why Is Russell Wilson Benched In Week 17?

The main reason is that Denver lost three of its past four games and is on the outside looking in at the postseason, and much of the blame can be laid at Ciara’s husband’s once-fleet feet. The fact of the matter is that Denver’s offense is sputtering at the worst possible time, and its quarterback is front and center of the problems.

The Broncos “passing attack” under Wilson was attacking secondaries about as much as Florida State attacked Georgia in the Capital One Orange Bowl this weekend. Wilson threw for less than 250 yards in each of his past five starts, and he only topped the mark once over his last dozen games.

The Broncos offense has not scored more than 24 points in 10 of its last 11 games. Supposed No. 1 WR Jerry Jeudy has one touchdown catch in 14 games. Nobody on the offense other than human highlight reel Courtland Sutton has benefitted from Wilson being under center. Wilson has racked up plenty of dink-and-dunk passes that have padded his stats, but he has not been able to consistently push the ball downfield. Some of that blame should be shouldered by a below-average receiving corps, but some of that falls on Russ.

Denver’s offense has stagnated with Wilson at the helm and the season is on the brink of a titanic collapse. Jarrett Stidham is a serviceable quarterback. Wilson is not much more than a game manager himself at this point of his career, especially with the average skilled-position players surrounding him at the moment. Stidham has proven in short stints with the New England Patriots and Las Vegas Raiders that he will not decimate an offense with three-interception games. Stidham might not be a step up from Wilson, but he is not a step down, either.

Yes, a wrinkle was thrown into this soap opera when Wilson announced that he was told by the Broncos brass that he would be benched if he did not redo provisions in his multimillion-dollar contract regarding an injury-related guaranteed bonus. While that probably helped him get benched, that is not the main reason for his demotion. If Wilson was playing anywhere near like the Wilson of 2020, he would still be the starting QB – and Denver would not have a losing record.

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