The biggest speed bump on the Broncos’ road to the Super Bowl might be the over-inflated, arrogant head of coach Sean Payton.

Don’t know about you, but I’m beginning to worry Denver is going to waste a championship-caliber defense through the stubborn offensive cluelessness of the head coach.

Watching the Broncos escape Thursday night with a 10-7 victory against the wretched Las Vegas Raiders was mind-numbing, frustrating and reason to wonder if Bo Nix might be the second-best quarterback on the Denver roster.

“I’ve been booed before,” Nix said. “And I’ll be booed again.”

Keep playing this ineptly, and Nix will get himself benched.

But this team has an even bigger problem than a struggling NFL quarterback in the throes of a sophomore slump.

Ten games into this NFL season, the Broncos would be in big heapin’ trouble without the most ferocious defense we’ve seen in this dusty old cowtown since 2015.

The Orange Menace that sacked Raiders quarterback Geno Smith six times is too legit to quit.

But with an offense that plays more to Payton’s ego than his team’s talent, Denver’s 8-2 record is beginning to look fraudulent.

“There’s no buts!” grumped Payton, insisting there’s no arguing with the Broncos’ success.

Well, maybe the coach has a point but … his Denver offense stinks worse than the back end of a donkey.

Summer has turned to autumn, the clocks have fallen back, and Payton still seems lost in the dark about how to orchestrate complementary football with the one-two running punch of J.K. Dobbins and RJ Harvey behind the road-graders on his well-paid offensive line.

Before it gets any worse, perhaps Payton should give up his playcalling duties to Pat Shurmur.

Mr. Shurmur has been reduced to pushing his pencil in CU coach Deion Sanders’ doghouse.

With one phone call, Payton could bring back Pat!

OK, I beg your forgiveness for my bad joke.

But so is the Broncos’ offense. And it’s not funny. It’s unforgivable.

“I felt like it was a night when it was third down, I was looking on the wrong section of the third-down sheet,” Payton said.

The problem isn’t that Payton gets stuck too often picking from the third-and-long menu on his playsheet. The issue is Payton consistently whispers nonsense into NIx’s headset on first and second down.

Try as Payton might wish it to be true, Nix is not a franchise quarterback.

Way too often, he’s a hindrance. Impatient in the pocket. Inaccurate on downfield throws. The king of the three-and-out.

If you are one of those knuckleheads that has compared Nix to John Elway because it takes No. 10 at least three quarters to wake up, I’d suggest you’re asleep at the switch.

To summarize the Jekyll and Hyde nature of this team in a single sentence, the Broncos lead the league in both sacks and punts.

Under Payton’s mismanagement, it took Denver well past halftime before the offense produced more first downs than three-and-outs.

With all his answers blowing in the wind, Payton stood on the sideline with late in the third quarter with the score tied at one measly touchdown apiece, and the lone memorable play among 38 offensive snaps a 43-yard pass from Nix to Pat Bryant in the second quarter that set up Denver’s lone march to the end zone.

Denver’s winning drive went backwards on four snaps that ended with a gimme field goal by Wil Lutz. Those three points were set up by a blocked punt that put the Broncos in business only 12 yards from the Las Vegas goal line.

And we won’t mention the Raiders missed a field goal in the fourth quarter that could’ve extended our misery into an overtime that would’ve been a crying shame.

“You search for that Shangri-La,” Payton said.

He strains too hard to make himself look smart.

How else to explain why Dobbins, who finished 77 yards on 18 carries, was handed the rock only four times in the first half? And what the heck was Payton thinking on third-and-one in field goal range, when he sent in a trick play for receiver Courtland Sutton to throw a pass? 

“We’re living a little dangerously,” Denver offensive tackle Mike McGlinchey aid.
The most impactful takeaway this ornery Broncos defense could make would be a strip sack.

I don’t care if it’s made by Nik Bonitto or Talanoa Hufunga.

But there has to be somebody big and strong enough to take away the playsheet from Payton. Give quarterback coach Davis Webb a shot at jump-starting this offense.

Yes, the Broncos have won eight times. Nobody can take any of those dubs away from them.

At the risk of irritating Payton, however, here comes the big ugly but.

Denver sits in first place of the AFC West after 10 games, but if they don’t get their offensive act together, the Broncos are destined to have a losing record from now until they’re eliminated from the playoffs.