"With the Broncos running scared from an uncertain future, how hard would it be for owner Pat Bowlen to stop the madness and tell everybody he was committed to the team's best player?

This NFL team has no future without cornerback Champ Bailey.

Please tell me that Bailey will be playing in Denver next year. Quit messing with his head. Slap a franchise tag on him, if necessary. But don't let the team's one bona fide healthy star walk out the door as a free agent.

There are whispers around the NFL that Bailey has lost a step, dropping him from the elite level of shut-down corners that includes Oakland's Nnamdi Asomugha and Darrelle Revis of the New York Jets.

That's bunk.

Nobody does it better than Bailey.

"He has been in nine Pro Bowls, he should be in 10," Broncos defensive coordinator Don "Wink" Martindale said Thursday. "I always joke around with Rex (Ryan, coach of the Jets). I say he's got his guy with Revis' Island. Champ's island is Honolulu, because he's over there at the Pro Bowl every time."

Was firing Josh McDaniels really the lone item Bowlen had on his to-do list?

The Broncos stubbornly refuse to give Tim Tebow a look at quarterback, because it might be an affront to Kyle Orton and his 3-9 record. Really?

Interim coach Eric Studesville, bless his sweet heart and spinning head, can't think one second past the next drill at practice.

Ask Broncos chief executive officer Joe Ellis for precise details of an organizational chart that will restore order to a dysfunctional franchise and his response is only slightly more convincing than an "I dunno" shrug.

OK, so let's start with what should be a no-brainer."