ORCHARD PARK - The Buffalo Bills’ 2023 season is officially on the brink of extinction, and they have no one to blame but themselves following a simply dreadful performance Monday night that resulted in an eye-popping 24-22 loss to yet another NFL mediocrity, the Denver Broncos.

In an ending that could not have been more appropriate on a night when the Bills gift-wrapped multiple points to the Broncos, the final indignation came when the Bills were caught with too many men on the field as Denver’s Wil Lutz was missing a 41-yard field goal with four seconds remaining.

And so rather than walking off the field with a wholly undeserved victory, the Bills swallowed one of their worst losses of the Sean McDermott/Josh Allen era.

Lutz and the Broncos could not believe their good fortune, the Bills committing the type of penalty that would be unacceptable in youth football, and naturally, given the mulligan from five yards closer, Lutz drilled it to send the Bills reeling back to 5-5 and dropping them to 10th overall in the conference standings.

UPDATE: Buffalo Bills remove Ken Dorsey as offensive coordinator

With all five of their losses to AFC teams, three of which have losing records, the Bills only realistic chance of making it to the postseason is for the Miami Dolphins to collapse and hand them the AFC East title because qualifying as a wild-card team is out of the question.

“It’s not ideal,” even-keeled center Mitch Morse said while Allen, sitting next to him, looked like he was in a trance. “I think now is going to be the real test for this team. Not so much on Sundays, but how we stick together through this on the week.

Bills report card: Buffalo needs miracle to make playoffs after horrid loss to Broncos

“Look at it objectively, and then I think the best teams, when the pressure is at its highest and when everything seems to be crumbling is when you come together closer. It’s like breaking a bone - when you heal it, it becomes stronger. For us, that’s what we gotta do and I’m very confident in this team to do that.”

Here are Sal’s Six Points:

1. Special teams are anything but special

For a coach who believes so strongly in three phases, McDermott was mortified by the way his kicking units performed in this game, and that was before the final penalty.

Largely because of their five turnovers (counting a turnover on downs when the offense failed to convert a fourth-and-1 near midfield early in the third quarter) but also because of poor punting, punt coverage and kickoff coverage, the Bills woefully lost the field position battle.

Denver started four possessions in Buffalo territory, had three other drive starts at their own 48, 39 and 46, and for the night their average drive start was their 41. The Bills’ best field position was their own 46 after they forced their lone turnover of the game. The average drive start was their 24.

“It was significant,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said. “I felt like we played a lot of the game on their end of the field. What happens when you do that is the mistakes are magnified when they make them, and they’re not as glaring when you make them.”

On the too many men penalty, Tyler Matakevich - who is a special teams-only player - was in disbelief that it happened.

“We’ve worked on it before, so we need to be able to execute that stuff in those situations and unfortunately we didn’t and that’s the result,” he said. “And it especially sucks knowing he missed it, too. That’s definitely frustrating. Nobody likes losing and we definitely don’t like losing like that. There’s really no words to describe it right now.”

2. Josh Allen is officially lost

The 2018 first-round draft pick, who had ridden three tremendous seasons into superstardom with his name mentioned with the elite of the elite among NFL quarterbacks, is a shell of his former self right now.

It has been stunning to watch his decline into mediocrity ever since he lit up the Dolphins - the team he always decimates - on the afternoon of Oct. 1. With the exception of his performance against Tampa Bay when he threw for 324 yards and looked great doing it, Allen has been a turnover machine and the Bills’ offense has been borderline inept.

He has now thrown at least one interception in six straight games, the first time he has done that in his career. That includes two in this game, plus a lost fumble on a botched handoff.

“I think he’s played well at times and then at times he hasn’t, and you can’t turn the ball over, so we’ve got to figure that out,” McDermott said.

Maybe for the first time since the playoff loss to the Houston Texans at the end of the 2019 season when we really didn’t know what to make of Allen, he is being looked at as one of the primary reasons for the collapse of the offense.

3. Ken Dorsey may actually be on the hot seat

I’ve been saying right along that Dorsey is not solely to blame for this mess on offense. The players have to take their share of the blame as well because Dorsey’s not the guy who is out there committing 13 turnovers in the last six games.

But it is starting to become apparent that he is not finding solutions for what defenses have done to neuter the passing game and McDermott made a somewhat cryptic comments about Dorsey Monday night.

Asked if he still has confidence in the offensive coordinator, McDermott said, “I’m confident but I believe we can be better at the same time.” He then went on to say, “I think I need a little bit of time here after the game to assess that. Obviously I’m not real happy right now so I’ll evaluate that in the next 24 hours here and see where that takes us.”

Reading between the lines there, it’s possible that he may be contemplating a change before the Bills have to play against one of the NFL’s best defenses, a Jets defense that has regularly had its way with Dorsey’s offense, most recently in Week 1 this year.

“I do think there were times early in the game where we dropped the football,” McDermott said. “The football was there and we dropped it. I think there were multiple players who had opportunities to make catches and they didn’t make the catch. So that’s part of the evaluation - is it scheme or if guys were open, catch the football. But you evaluate the whole thing.”

4. James Cook sprinted out of the doghouse

The night couldn’t have started any worse for the second-year back, and the Bills offense. On the first play of the game Allen threw a quick pass to Cook in the left flat and after a short gain he coughed up the ball and Denver’s Ja’Quan McMillian recovered at the Bills 28. Moments later, the Broncos had a 3-0 lead.

As he often does when his running backs fumble, Sean McDermott banished Cook to the bench and he didn’t see the field for the next three possessions, even though that was Cook’s first fumble since his first carry in the NFL in the 2022 season opener against the Rams.

Cook was allowed back on the field for Buffalo’s fifth possession of the first half and he wound up being their best offensive player in the game. He touched the ball on the first four plays on that series - a pass reception for eight yards and then runs of 13, 5 and 3 yards and that got the Bills started on an 81-yard drive that ended with their first touchdown. It was a nice turnaround for Cook.

Late in the third quarter, Cook was supposed to take a handoff from Allen near midfield but the quarterback lost control of the ball as he was transferring it and Denver’s Alex Singleton recovered the fumble, Buffalo’s fourth turnover of the game, at the Broncos 48.

But then with the Bills trailing 21-15, Cook put together a huge series including a crazy 42-yard breakaway after he fumbled the ball after nine yards and was fortunate that it bounced right back into his arms. He then carried on the next three plays for 20 yards, setting up Allen’s go-ahead six-yard TD run. Cook finished the game with 109 yards.

5. Banged up defense did all it could

Already playing without Tre’Davious White, DaQuan Jones and Matt Milano, the Bills were without Micah Hyde and Christian Benford in this game yet that was the unit that showed up and kept the Bills alive because this could have easily been a blowout.

Despite all the terrible field position the defense was confronted with, it allowed only two touchdowns on 12 Denver possessions while forcing five punts and getting one turnover.

“Those guys played their asses off, they really did, so I applaud them for it,” McDermott said. “Certainly work to do there as well, but they played hard and I appreciate that. They gave us a chance. That’s a good offense, a talented offense and you’re going out there with five defensive starters out to begin with and I thought those guys played their asses off.”

6. The Taron Johnson penalty was so predictable

The moment Russell Wilson heaved that prayer in the direction of Jerry Jeudy with 35 seconds left to play, everyone in the stadium knew what was going to happen.

Taron Johnson was in one-on-one coverage because the Bills blitzed Wilson, and more times than not in the NFL, the defensive back with his back to the ball in that situation is going to make contact with the receiver, and the official is going to do what they always do - throw the flag and call pass interference.

In fact, in a private moment, Broncos coach Sean Payton would probably tell you that the play call was exactly that: Run downfield, get close to the DB, and draw the penalty. Wilson threw what was essentially a Hail Mary on the third-and-10 play, and he was rewarded.

“I tried to make a play on the ball, so it’s just frustrating,” Johnson said.

McDermott, of course, put Johnson in that situation because he came after Wilson. On the play before he did the same thing and A.J. Epenesa and Taylor Rapp sacked Wilson for a six-yard loss at the 44, pushing the Broncos out of field goal position.

“The field goal line we felt was the 40-yard-line so you’re not working with, you know, 35 yards of real estate, you’re working with a set window of real estate,” McDermott explained. “Russell had done a good job against the four-man rush, scrambling and making plays with his feet and so if we’re gonna go down, we’re going down being aggressive.”

The hope was the blitz would either sack or Wilson or force an incompletion, but he was able to stand in there and get the ball downfield.

Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana and on Threads @salmaiorana1. To subscribe to Sal's newsletter, Bills Blast, which comes out twice a week during the season, please follow this link: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Bills season on brink of extinction after handing game to Broncos