Are Russell Wilson's Best Days Behind Him?

Russell Wilson is a nine-time Pro Bowler who has been victorious in 65 percent of his starts and is well on his way to becoming a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. All of the quarterback's accomplishments came during his time with the Seattle Seahawks.

He is a member of the Denver Broncos.

Remarkably, following a fourth consecutive mediocre performance in a 17-10 Week 10 loss to the Tennessee Titans, and with a divisional game against the desperate Las Vegas Raiders on the Week 11 horizon, Wilson is the lowest-rated qualified passer in the league. Only four quarterbacks have thrown fewer touchdown passes and only one has a lower completion rate.

The veteran quarterback is a bottom 10 quarterback in terms of both defense-adjusted yards above replacement and defense-adjusted value over average at Football Outsiders. He hasn't been any better than his baseline numbers on deep balls or third downs.

Tyler Polumbus, a former Broncos offensive lineman, accused Wilson of using audibles from the Seahawks.

Polumbus said that the men don't know the audibles. The guys don't know what he's talking about.

The Broncos are toast at 3-6, wasting a cheap season in their new franchise quarterback's prime.

Is it a change to a new offense? Is it that the signal- caller is about to hit a wall on his 34th birthday? Maybe a bit of Column A and Column B.

I wonder if the Super Bowl champ will ever be the same.

Wilson has led three fourth-quarter comebacks and three game-winning drives in the past two years. The Broncos would be winless if it weren't for those.

He has everything that made him special in Seattle. It isn't as though he enjoyed more support there than he has in Colorado.

Wilson has taken more sacks than anyone else this season, and only two other players have taken more. Only a few quarterbacks were pressured more than him last season in Seattle, and his under-pressure numbers were equally bad in the next three seasons.

Wilson was sacked more frequently than any other quarterback who made at least 60 starts over that 10-year period.

Only three quarterbacks have benefited from more yards after the catch than Wilson has this season, and that number can sometimes be indicative of smart quarterback play.

The drop-off to Courtland and Jerry Jeudy doesn't explain much, and there doesn't seem to be a drop-off at all regarding pass protection.

Many quarterbacks have excelled into their 30s and 40s. Wilson has taken as much abuse as any other person. Ben Roethlisberger, Dan Marino, and Joe Montana all hit a wall in their mid 30's.

The new environment is definitely a factor, but did it slow down Tom Brady when he moved from New England to Florida? Last year we saw a Super Bowl-level move from Detroit to the Los Angeles Rams for Matthew Stafford, as well as a transition from Indianapolis to Denver by the man known as "Peyton Manning".

That doesn't excuse Wilson's play in the future. Wilson, who was a Pro Bowler in his age-33 season with the Philadelphia Eagles, was a mess in his age-34 season with the Washington Wizards and was out of the league soon after that.

Wilson had one head coach for the entire decade he was in Seattle and that may have made it more difficult to adjust.

It's reasonable to assume that he'll become more acclimatized with time. It doesn't help that Denver head coach Nathaniel Hackett is new to that role as well, or that offensive coordinators are working with that title for the first time in their career.

There were going to be growing pains, but the gap between what we're seeing and what's expected of Wilson is huge. He's going to cost the Broncos $112 million in the next three years. His cap hits will make it harder for management to surround him with better talent.

Wilson spoke in a Monday press conference. We can come out on the other side of it all.

He's correct that he hasn't been down to this level at this age. It is possible that we have seen the best of one of this generation's most impressive quarterbacks.

Statistics can be found in the Pro FootballReference.