DENVER – Brock Osweiler talked on Monday night about how much he loved the Denver Broncos, and it felt sincere.

The Denver fans don’t love him anymore, not after he left them as a free agent for a big payday with the Houston Texans. But after Denver’s 27-9 win, many Broncos hugged Osweiler at midfield.

“They meant a lot to me,” Osweiler said. “I think all those guys know how I feel about them as well. I have nothing but love, appreciation, gratitude not only for those players, the coaches, the organization, the city of Denver. This place was nothing but great for four years for my wife and myself.”

And as he was gushing about Denver, it became clear: Osweiler made a mistake this offseason.

It was easy to imagine Osweiler having a much different news conference at Sports Authority Field outside the home locker room. If he was playing with the Broncos’ defense instead of against it, he could have put up a 157-yard, one-touchdown, zero-interception game like Trevor Siemian did in a win. Broncos fans would still love him, and celebrate how big of a role he played for the Super Bowl 50 championship team. Instead, they booed.

“I was definitely not surprised by that,” Osweiler said. “I assumed I’d get a lot of boos. In fact, I thought it would be a little bit louder.”

He gave up a good situation to go to Houston, all for about $2 million more per year than the Broncos offered. The Broncos offered about $16 million a season. Houston offered $18 million a year. Osweiler went with Houston. He said he has no regrets.

“Absolutely not,” Osweiler said. “I’ve always told people I’ve never lived my life looking in the rear-view mirror with any regret. So absolutely not.”

Of course he can’t say he regrets leaving Denver, and perhaps he doesn’t. It’s easy to say he should have taken only $16 million a year from the Broncos. That $2 million difference isn’t coming out of our accounts. And Osweiler had good reason to want a fresh start. It’s not like the Broncos gave him many reasons to stay, from the time they benched him last season in Week 17 to when they put off negotiating with him until Peyton Manning made his retirement decision.

But it seems like a classic case of money not buying happiness. Monday night would have been a lot different for Osweiler had he stayed. His entire life would be a lot different.

It’s only seven games, but the Osweiler signing looks a lot more like Scott Mitchell than Drew Brees. He has been perhaps the NFL’s most criticized player this season. On Monday night he was 22-of-41 for 131 yards. According to Elias Sports Bureau, via ESPN, that’s the second-fewest yards in NFL history for a quarterback with 40 or more attempts.

It’s not like Siemian was great Monday night. But he wasn’t the one giving exasperated answers as he tried to explain what is wrong with his team’s passing game.

“Without a doubt it’s something that needs to be cleaned up and figured out,” Osweiler said. “We need to find a way offensively to move the ball, to score touchdowns. It starts with me.”

Was it worth it to leave? Osweiler could have stayed with Broncos coach Gary Kubiak instead of trying to learn a new system. There would have been a fraction of the pressure he’s under now. He had goodwill built up in Denver. The Broncos don’t win last season’s Super Bowl without Osweiler’s contributions late last season. All he had in Houston was huge expectations due to that four-year, $72 million contract that is mentioned every time anyone speaks his name. And even though Siemian has been fine, Osweiler probably would have played just as well this season with the Broncos.

“I love the big guy,” Broncos outside linebacker Von Miller said of Osweiler. “I wish him the best. I want to see him be the type of quarterback that we all know he can be. There’s nothing but positive vibes between me and Brock.”

The Broncos have to be happy it turned out this way. Siemian is making $525,000 in base salary this year, and he has produced better numbers than Osweiler. First-round pick Paxton Lynch’s entire four-year contract is worth about $9.5 million, a little more than half of what Osweiler makes each season. Denver ended up better off for Osweiler leaving.

Osweiler has a 71.9 rating, which is bad. Among quarterbacks with more than 150 attempts this season, only Ryan Fitzpatrick of the New York Jets has a worse rating and he was benched last week. Osweiler has been consistently flustered by pressure. He and No. 1 receiver DeAndre Hopkins can’t get on the same page. There aren’t many positives.

Texans coach Bill O’Brien refused to blame Osweiler after the game, but it’s not like he has much choice. You don’t pay a quarterback $18 million a year and bench him after seven games.

“I would tell you we’re all in it together,” O’Brien said. “Everybody has to do a better job, from coaching to playing.”

Osweiler still has time to turn things around. And the Texans are 4-3, so it hasn’t been an absolute debacle for him or the team, even though he hasn’t played well. Perhaps the entire story line will turn around as Osweiler gets more comfortable in Houston.

But right now, it doesn’t seem like grabbing that extra $2 million a year in Houston was worth it.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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