Russell Wilson-Sean Payton divorce has Broncos fans pointing fingers

Should Russell Wilson be forgot and never brought to mind?

“Right or wrong, I sort of thought we should stick with him,” Andrew Porter told me Sunday as he and son Jack took a took a break during the third quarter of Sunday’s Backup Bowl at Empower Field.

“The season’s not perfect, but we’ve won some big games. And I would have rather seen us stick with (Wilson) and say, ‘You know, maybe this was bad money, but we’re the ones who gave him a very lucrative contract … we submitted that contract, and I think we’ve got to see it through.’ (Instead), the (Broncos) are benching him for two games, and they’re gonna eat, you know, $30 million of dead money next year and $35 million (the next) … I mean, you know, we sort of made this bed. We ought to lie in it.”

While the Broncos were hammering the final nails into a grindy New Year’s Eve victory over a Chargers team with interim coach Giff Smith on the headsets and Cancun on the brain, Andrew and Jack took mental notes in matching orange “WILSON 3” jerseys.

Dad sported the Color Rush version; Jack, the more modern visage, bemusedly watching quarterback Jarrett Stidham notch his first NFL victory as the clock likely struck midnight on Wilson’s home games in Orange and Blue.

“I’m not a huge Russell Wilson fan,” Andrew clarified as the Broncos won a 16-9 rock fight before nearly 10,000 no-shows. “He’s OK, I guess.

“But I feel like the Broncos have been making these decisions, these big, bold decisions — signing Sean Payton, signing Russell Wilson, doing all these things, the new ownership group, (hiring) Nathaniel Hackett last year, and we just can’t stick with our decisions. We can’t stick with our commitments. And I feel like we should. I feel like if we’re gonna spend all this money and draft picks, like, yeah, we gave it all up. We might as well just go with what we paid for.”

If Week 17 was indeed Wilson’s last appearance at Empower Field as a member of the Broncos, his legacy — an 11-19 record as a starter, a trade that cost Denver four draft picks — remains mixed. So was the reaction inside Broncos Country.

“I don’t know if (the decision was) tough for me because I was never a Russ fan anyway,” countered Clint Holt, a season-ticket holder from Aurora.

“It’s much easier for me to jump on the Stidham (wagon) … I didn’t agree with (Wilson) coming here anyway after Seattle. I felt like he was kind of on (the) down (side) … I felt like we were trying to repeat the Peyton Manning thing.”

Hey, Holt’s all for changing course at quarterback. And his sails are pointed directly at the Windy City.
“I’m more, ‘Let’s go after (the Bears’) Justin Fields,’” he added. “I think Fields — I feel like he’s not at his potential in Chicago. I’ve just got that feeling. And I feel like that change, bringing him here, just seems like a good fit to me.”

Holt was so ready to turn the page on Big Russ, he brought a Broncos “4” jersey to Sunday’s home finale. A nice one, too. Sewn numbers. The whole shebang.

In honor of Stidham’s first Broncos start?