ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The Denver Broncos have done almost everything an organization can do in the search of touchdowns.

They’ve traded piles of draft picks and dropped a nine-figure contract on quarterback Russell Wilson, the biggest move of over a dozen they’ve made at the position over the past eight seasons. They’ve made Sean Payton one of the highest-paid coaches in the league.

They’ve signed wide receivers, spent big in free agency in the offensive line, changed offensive coordinators like wrinkled dress shirts … and yet they finished another season the way they finished the previous seven playoff misses — longing for touchdowns they don’t score.

“Many of you have asked great questions about ‘your offense, your offense’,” Payton said at season’s end. “Overall, we collectively — starting with me — it wasn’t good enough. We didn’t take advantage of enough field position opportunities in games.”

They benched Wilson with two games remaining in the season. They finished 19th in scoring at 21 points per game — their ninth consecutive season under 23. Only two teams in this year’s playoff field — Pittsburgh (17.9) and Tampa Bay (20.5) — averaged fewer than 21 points, and nine teams in the playoff field averaged more than 23.

And that was despite the fact Wilson’s 26 touchdown passes ranked among the league’s top six when Payton benched him.

“I just feel like we can finish off some of those drives, it’s a big difference,” said wide receiver Courtland Sutton, who led the team with 10 touchdown receptions, the only Broncos player with more than four. “We showed we can move the ball against good defenses, it’s just finishing it with seven [points] more times.”

The Broncos were also one of seven teams in the league not to finish the regular season with either a 1,000-yard rusher or at least one 1,000-yard receiver. Two of those seven made the playoffs — Kansas City and Baltimore — and also happen to have two of the league’s best quarterbacks.

The Chiefs had a 900-yard rusher in running back Isiah Pacheco and two players with at least 900 yards receiving in tight end Travis Kelce and wide receiver Rashee Rice. The Ravens had two 800-yard rushers (Jackson and running back Gus Edwards) as Jackson posted an MVP-worthy season with 29 total touchdowns.

Also, there were 11 teams this season that had a 1,000-yard rusher and at least one 1,000-yard receiver. Eight of those teams made the playoffs and two of the other three finished with winning records.

The Broncos’ stumbles on offense, however, may have been summed up best by their struggles in goal-to-go situations — first down from the 10-yard line or closer, a spot where Green Bay scored touchdowns a league-leading 95% of its trips.

The Broncos were 30th in those situations — touchdowns on 53.3% of their trips — better than only the New York Jets (50%) and Atlanta Falcons (48.2%).

“Our tight red zone was awful, I have to look closely at my sequencing and what I’m doing and calling,” Payton said. “What I mean by that is goal-to-go. Our red zone numbers are past the 20. How many touchdowns, percentages, etc. … Our opportunities, I think, were decent. I think we were [50.9%] and that measured [20th]. Inside the 10, first and goal-to-go, that wasn’t good enough.”

Other than Sutton, the Broncos didn’t have enough finishers. Especially in the run game as Denver had five rushing touchdowns combined this season from the team’s running backs, or fewer than 19 players had individually this season.

And while Payton kept saying the Broncos needed more from the run game in the red zone, he didn’t always call games that way. Four of the top five scoring teams in the league this season (Miami, San Francisco, Baltimore and Detroit) were also among the league’s top 10 in percentage of red zone runs. The Broncos were 25th in the league in percentage of run plays in the red zone.

It may have all been summed up in the season’s final four games. First, in Payton’s sideline eruption in Detroit, mostly directed at Wilson, when the Broncos failed to score a touchdown after a first-and-goal from the Lions’ 9-yard line. A fourth-down touchdown was nullified by an offside penalty — as the drive ended in an 18-yard field goal by Wil Lutz and Payton fuming on the sideline.

“Offensively, certainly, we don’t feel as though we did enough this year,” tackle Mike McGlinchey said. “And that’s where we’ve got to start moving forward in April … just finish those drives, don’t make it hard on ourselves, get those opportunities and take advantage of them, that’s what winning teams do, I think.”