KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- After the interceptions, fumbles, dropped passes and lost opportunities, the Denver Broncos left Arrowhead Stadium just before Monday turned to Tuesday as nothing close to the team they said -- and believed -- they could be.

They still have just over half a season to find some kind of balance -- nine games, to be exact -- but with their next two outings against the Philadelphia Eagles (7-1) and the New England Patriots (6-2), there is plenty of well-earned pessimism swirling around the 3-4 Broncos.

They spent much of the 2016 season saying that their true mettle would surface, but it never really did in a 9-7 finish that was their first playoff miss since the 2010 season. They have spent much of the first seven games of this season saying they could find themselves, if they simply cleaned some things up, had some meetings, smoothed some rough edges.

Well, after a 29-19 loss to the Chiefs on Monday night, for all of football America to see, the Broncos have a rather significant to-do list.

Ultimately, it won't matter how much is, or isn't, Trevor Siemian's fault at quarterback; he'll be the one who pays the price. ESPN's Jon Gruden said Monday night, "You can't play quarterback if you're getting hit the way Trevor Siemian's getting hit."

That's true, and when Siemian isn't getting hit, he's playing as if he might get hit, which is leading to too many back-foot throws in too many bad spots. Siemian threw his eighth, ninth and 10th interceptions of the season against the Chiefs, and nothing forces turnover at quarterback like turnovers. It has always been that way.

If the Broncos aren't in the playoff mix as Thanksgiving approaches -- losses to the Eagles and Patriots would make them 3-6 with seven games to play -- the team's decision-makers almost certainly will want to take a look at Paxton Lynch to see if he can be more than a backup.

Lynch isn't healthy enough to play yet, or at least, he hasn't looked that way in practice, so Brock Osweiler could get the nod if coach Vance Joseph traces too much of what went on Monday to Siemian. But in the long view, if the Broncos are on track to miss the playoffs, they need to find out if Lynch is an answer at quarterback as they head into the offseason.

But make no mistake: The current state of affairs on offense goes way beyond the quarterback. The Broncos don't pass block particularly well -- Siemian's trips to the training room are proof of that. Their special teams have been largely unreliable to this point, with another fumble Monday night. Their defense, for all of its elite work this season, hasn't forced enough turnovers to create the kind of mayhem that is needed to overcome the issues elsewhere on the team.

Offensively, the Broncos are at their best when they run the ball out of more physical personnel groupings, yet there they were Monday on a third-and-1 in a three-wide-receiver set with an empty backfield. Their best work Monday night came when the scoreboard allowed them to pound away.

The Broncos consistently have said they don't want to ask Siemian or any of their other quarterbacks to be Peyton Manning, yet often in the post-Manning era, they still align the offense as if Manning were behind center. Until players such as Virgil Green, Bennie Fowler and Isaiah McKenzie stop having drops like they did in Monday's loss, Demaryius Thomas won't have enough room to work to end a streak without a touchdown catch that is now almost a full year old.

Wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders, who has missed the past two losses with an ankle injury, hopes to be back Sunday in Philadelphia, but he's still a significant question mark.

The bottom line always comes down to wins and losses. After Monday, the Broncos are left with the question of whether they closed the gap and made a game of it -- they were within seven points with just over a minute to play in the third quarter -- because of their character and are about to turn the proverbial corner ...

Or if they just don't have enough to slug it out with the heavyweights this time.