ENGLEWOOD — The Broncos say they are sorry.

“I want to personally apologize to our fans and all of Broncos Country,” CEO Greg Penner said Tuesday at Broncos HQ, explaining why the team soon will be on Coach No. 5 since Super Bowl 50.

Is Russell Wilson sorry, too?

“Team 3” was good enough in Seattle to get Nathaniel Hackett fired after 15 games in Denver. Yes, Hackett was bad enough to be a one-and-done. But he would still be here if Wilson was even a league-average quarterback and not the 29th-rated passer in the NFL.

The result? The Broncos are dipping their toes in a pool of coaching candidates again, and George Paton deservedly has lost some sway as general manager.

“The new head coach will report to me, which is a more typical structure in the NFL,” said Penner, who declared the Broncos’ structure now will look more like Dick Monfort’s Rockies, who have a super-rich dude with a minimal sports background running a sports franchise.

But when it’s obvious the Broncos huddle, sideline and locker room wouldn’t follow Wilson’s lead to the grocery store, much less into a dangerous game against some of the world’s fiercest competitors, isn’t time for the $245 million quarterback to prove he’s on the same team?

Out with “Team 3,” the omnipresent entourage and personally appointed office at Dove Valley.

In with Team Broncos.

Whether it’s Jim Harbaugh, Sean Payton, Ejiro Evero (the promising defensive coordinator who will be a candidate for the head coaching job, Paton said) or the man on the moon, the next Broncos coach must carry the cajones to get Wilson in line. Is Russ a brand or a leader?

Ever since he arrived in Colorado, all Wilson’s proven is the Seahawks correct.

Maybe there was a time in Seattle when Wilson was a star worthy of star treatment. I don’t know. I live in Denver, and all of Colorado can see Wilson isn’t that star anymore. Can you imagine the fallout if a Mike Purcell had challenged Peyton Manning on the sideline, or if an offensive lineman rolled his eyes at PFM like Graham Glasgow did Sunday in a 51-14 loss?

“It was embarrassing,” said Paton, and Penner added the “off-the-field” stuff contributed to Hackett’s early dismissal.

Broncos Country’s honeymoon with Wilson was shorter than it takes Colorado snow to melt.

The Penner-Paton duo delivered a heartfelt mea culpa in explaining how a broken franchise can begin to pick up the pieces, regain your trust and form a competent operation again.

“I’m sorry to the fans,” Penner said.

You know what? I believe them. As Penner explained why he’s stripping Paton of some of his control, Paton looked like he sure could use one of those famous Hackett hugs.

“There’s no one to blame but me,” Paton said, relaying his message to the team a day before.

Penner has said before football is not an area of expertise. To paraphrase Brandt from “The Big Lebowski”: This is our concern, dude. And Tuesday he confirmed wife Carrie Walton Penner and minority owner Condoleezza Rice are going to have influence on the search committee.

Is this the Broncos we grew up with, or a fantasy football club for the rich and famous? On behalf of frustrated fans, I sure would feel better about the process with more actual football people in the room. But the elephant in the room is Wilson and a five-year contract extension that now fits like concrete galoshes.

“The decision to have Russell here was a long-term one,” Penner said.

While it was maddening to watch a country club training camp and baffling to witness a 64-yard field goal in Week 1, Hackett is gone for the same reason Vance Joseph and Vic Fangio are elsewhere: the Broncos still need a quarterback.

The Broncos have 99 problems, and a lack of leadership is the biggest one.

The Broncos play at Kansas City on Sunday in Week 17 of the season, and Wilson has the same number of bathrooms in his Cherry Hills estate (12) as he has touchdown passes.

“It’s not whether Russ is fixable or not. We do believe he is. We do,” Paton said.

It took me Day 1 of Broncos training camp to write that Wilson’s entourage and bigger-than-the-team approach was going to be an issue.

When coaches are getting fired, it’s an issue.

For the Broncos to win with Wilson as quarterback, he needs to dump the Hollywood schtick, ditch the entourage and become a leader his teammates trust. You know, get with the program. The Broncos played this season with an excellent quarterbacks coach in Klint Kubiak. Why does Wilson require his own?

“I think it’s really important that whoever we hire (as coach) has a relationship with the quarterback — Russ, whoever our (quarterback is), our backups,” Paton said.

There will be no “our” if Wilson isn’t fixable.

Paton will be gone, and so might the next coach.

In the lavish auditorium where the Broncos hold team meetings and explain the latest round of firings, there’s a sign on the wall that reads “TEAM FIRST” in all-caps.

Not “TEAM 3 FIRST.”