So this is rock bottom, huh?

On Monday Night Football, in front of a national audience of egg-nog sippers and family ditchers, the Denver Broncos got flat out embarrassed by the Oakland Raiders.

The Oakland. Freaking. Raiders.

You know, the team that has been clowned by the entire nation for trading away Khalil Mack and Amari Cooper. The team that everyone and their mother has accused of tanking all season. The team that lost to the San Francisco 49ers by 31 points and, just last week, lost to the Cincinnati Bengals—without both Andy Dalton and A.J. Green—by 14 points.

Denver lost to Oakland by a score of 27-14, and in the process, secured the franchise’s second consecutive losing season for the first time since 1972. The team’s incredible feat of having more Super Bowl appearances than losing seasons since Pat Bowlen took control of the organization in 1984? Gone.

Merry Christmas?

“It’s tough, especially being a part of an organization that’s so used to elite play, elite wins and just being an elite organization,” Von Miller said after the game.

Here’s the hard part, while Von is right and the Broncos are a very proud organization, the team and its fanbase have been getting used to some very different stuff over the course of the last three years. Playoff-less seasons, atrocious quarterback play, appalling offensive output, embarrassing losses, busted draft picks and Christmas-time debacles. That’s become the new norm in Denver.

They say it takes 30 days to form a habit. Well, this stuff has been going on for more than 1,000 days now.

Speaking of habits, the Broncos are making a habit of ruining Christmas in Colorado. Over the last three years, the Broncos are 0-3 on Christmas Eve/Christmas Day with an average margin of defeat of more than 17 points.

At least a defensive lineman didn’t throw a touchdown in this one. At least Christmas Eve falls on a Tuesday in 2019.

Another habit? Losing to god-awful teams.

“This loss kind of felt like New York all over again,” Justin Simmons said in the locker room.

He’s right. In fact, in terms of margin of defeat, the Broncos’ two biggest losses of the year came at the hands of the New York Jets and, yes the Oakland Raiders on Monday night. As it stands, both of those teams are in line for a top-five pick. If you added all of their wins together, they still couldn’t make the playoffs. Oh, and for good measure, the Broncos also lost to the San Francisco 49ers, another team in line to pick int he top-five of the draft.

Merry Christmas?

Even Santa is rolling his eyes at Denver’s wish list. They need a new quarterback, a new coach, and a new owner. You know, the three pillars of an NFL franchise. They’ll get the new coach, maybe they can ask for the other two for their birthday?

They may be getting closer to the quarterback, if one any of this year’s guys are, in fact, on that wish list. With the loss on Monday night, Denver moved up two spots from 14th to 12th in the draft order. With a couple of breaks, they could get as high as seventh next week.

I know, I know, nobody likes rooting for losses, but the truth is that may be the only way to get what you want as a Broncos fan this holiday season.

Welcome to rock bottom, at least the end of the season is in sight.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.