We’re so sorry, Mr. B.

Pat Bowlen, who built the Broncos into an elite NFL franchise because he settled for nothing less than the best, died June 13, 2019. It already seems like a long time ago.

Before Mr. B passed away, as he battled the ravages of Alzheimer’s, his beloved team was already on the fast track to Brownsville, where 0-3 is a way of life and losing becomes a habit.

“Losing is losing,” linebacker Bradley Chubb said Sunday. “It isn’t fun at all.”

In a sparsely populated stadium, 5,700 sad fans ed a totally inept NFL team, unable to perform such basic fundamentals as protecting the quarterback or punting the football, as the Broncos got hammered 28-10 by Tampa Bay and old Tom Brady.

The Broncos need a change at quarterback. They need a change at head coach. They need  a change of philosophy, even if that means saying goodbye to football operations director and Colorado sports icon John Elway.

But most of all, the Broncos need a franchise owner to hold somebody … anybody … everybody accountable for this mess.

I believe Brittany Bowlen possesses the smarts and the iron will to tackle a multitude of problems her late father would never abide.

But it doesn’t matter what I think. With a $3 billion family squabble over control of this team headed to court, the Broncos make Washington or Cleveland or any other messed-up NFL franchise look like the picture of stability by comparison.

Get your act together, Bowlen kids. Or sell the team, divide the profits and get out of this dusty old cowtown.

“I didn’t make enough plays,” said quarterback Jeff Driskel, who passed for a meager 176 yards.

But I’m not going to blast Driskel, who spent most of the afternoon getting run over by a runaway bus rolling into Denver from Florida. He was sacked five times and battered beyond recognition before being mercifully benched in the fourth quarter.

Driskel, whose record as a starter in this league is now 1-8, said he hopes and expects to remain the team’s No. 1 quarterback.

I say: Next!

Dumping Driskel would be uncomfortable on short notice, with the Broncos traveling to New Jersey, where they will play Thursday night against the Jets, in a matchup of two horrendous teams with no meaningful time to prepare. (What could possibly go wrong?)

But we’ve seen enough of Driskel. What would the Broncos have to lose by giving Brett Rypien a shot? If Blake Bortles can do 10 jumping jacks and learn 10 plays, he could be as effective as Driskel, who led Denver to only a single first down before the Bucs took a 10-0 lead.

Sign Tim Tebow for giggles. Or see if Uncle Rico is available. I hear back in ’82, he could throw a pigskin a quarter mile.

I feel sorry for coach Vic Fangio. He’s a good man deserving better.

But Uncle Vic has got 14 more weeks on this job, if that. The question is not so much if Fangio is head-coaching material, but how many games even Iron Mike Ditka would lose if supplied the lousy NFL material the Broncos are trotting out on game day.

Why in the name of Gary Zimmerman would Elway do something crazy like signing Chargers reject Melvin Gordon (eight rushes for 26 yards) to a two-year, $16 million contract, so the veteran back could be pounded into dust? The Broncos offensive line doesn’t have the ability to open a door for your Auntie Em, much less open a sliver of daylight in Tampa Bay’s defensive front.

Yes, receiver Courtland Sutton is lost for the season with a knee injury and it would require a minor miracle for edge-rusher Von Miller to get back on the field in 2020. So the Broncos are missing their two most-talented players, to say nothing of starting quarterback Drew Lock, solid cornerback A.J. Bouye or spiritual leader Phillip Lindsay, all currently in various stages of physical disrepair.

But guess what?

“We’re not in the excuses business,” said veteran defensive end Shelby Harris, one of the few players on the Denver roster playing at a high level.

The buck stops with Elway. He deserves full praise for Super Bowl 50, as well as full blame for all the missteps at quarterback and coach ever since.

Since Oct. 30, 2017, when Denver imploded with five turnovers during a 29-19 loss at Kansas City, the Broncos have enjoyed a winning record for only a scant three-week stretch during the outset of the 2018 season.

Mr. B dismissed Mike Shanahan, the greatest coach in team history, after the Broncos missed the playoffs three years in a row, from 2006-08. Under Elway’s guidance, this Denver team seems doomed to miss the playoffs for a fifth consecutive season.

Bowlen loved Elway like a son, but Mr. B would not hesitate to fire Elway for driving the Broncos’ reputation for excellence into the ground.

Know the saddest thing about a pandemic that scattered 5,700 brave and loyal souls around Empower Field at Mile High to this deja-vu debacle?

There weren’t even enough fans in the stands to loudly boo this orange-and-blue mess.