A Broncos’ beatdown to the Cincinnati Cheaps Monday night would be unforgettable and unforgivable. A loss to the Philadelphia champs won’t get the deed done. And with a defeat to either or both of the New York/New Jersey chumps, Denver can fuhgeddaboudit.

       A week ago, a Simpleton Simon in a sports show said the Broncos would simply have to win over the Chargers to lead the AFC West.

       Simply, as if the outcome in Los Angeles were inevitable.

       Even now, though, a poor pie man can see that if the Broncos stumble again in the NFL’s MNF game, they will be last in the division.

       These Broncos were reputed in preseason to clamber to the championship categoric claim, especially by their own coach and his collection of cronies.

       An unfunny thing happened on the way to the fair. The Broncos barely bumped the Titans at home in the opening game and couldn’t even cover the betting spread. In the first travel game, the Broncos were trimmed like a hedge by a 45-yard field goal and couldn’t recover at the end. Against the Chargers, the Broncos discovered that they weren’t the shiny new objects that had been promised – simply. They missed a makeable field goal and made a mistake on an unmakeable field goal, then lost when the Chargers did make a field goal for a victory in the 127th duel of the duo.

       The Broncos’ newly extolled offense of running backs, jokers, joysticks, and Bo Nix has scored a mere 68 points (22.7 per game) while the highly-exalted defense of edge-crashers and orange-crushers has allowed 64 points (21.3). Overall in the league, the Broncos are ranked and filed at No. 19. Not so irrelevant, not so relevant. Mediocre more than meteoric. The sacks seekers and the sophomore slumper are the stories on the field, and the head coach and the former head coach are feeling the flames.

       During the three games the Broncos have been picked off three times and fumbled once while intercepting one pass and seizing three fumbles. Where are the big players like “Camelot”?

       Coach Sean Payton hasn’t delivered as quickly and well as FedEx, but does accept some culpability for several decisions that have included dragging a couple of plays out of an old bag. He hasn’t revealed a new bag of offensive tricks with two quirky running backs and an experienced tight end whose nickname doesn’t belong in the same sentence with Nikola Jokic’s. The Mad Hatter and the Thackery Earwacket won’t confuse anybody with J.K. Dobbins and RJ Harvey so far, and the wide receivers’ route schemes appear to be from an old Nebraska playbook.

       The quarterback has been Joe Blow. The Bo play so far is reminiscent of Drew Lock and Brett Rypien, a pair of average quarterbacks who passed through town.

       Sean’s coaching hasn’t been Max Speedie, Lou Saban, John Ralston or, say, Vance Joseph, but he hasn’t been masterminding with Mike Shanahan at dinner at the restaurant with his name on it — with Jon Gruden as a guest, too. But, then, Vance Joseph’s defense isn’t quite up to Wade Phillips’ form, either.

       The team that rolled out for the three exhibitions hasn’t been on a roll in the regular season games vs. the Titans, the Colts, and those always annoying Chargers.

       Now comes the hard part, although the Broncos drew another break with the injury to Joe Burrow. The Bengals, who have the cheapest operation in the NFL, should be rather easy Monday night with the loss of their sensational quarterback, but rookie Cam Ward and Daniel Jones weren’t intended to be unique either. Jake Browning starts for Cincy, but might we even see Old Friend Rypien once again?

       Teams that begin the season with a 1-3 record do overcome that early obstacle to find the playoffs, but the Broncos should worry more about their own actions than their uniform combinations and future stadium site. The true America’s team – the  Eagles – will be lingering for the following game, with both the Jets in London and the Giants here ahead.

       NFL’s history suggests that 1-3, 2-4, 3-5, and 1-6 may occasionally ascend to the post-season, but they rarely advance beyond one feeble effort on the road. The Broncos have at least seven more confrontations with potential playoff participants, and 11 triumphs seem as far off as Christmas Night in Kansas City.

       The Broncos must get their act together immediately.

       Otherwise, they won’t get it.