The heat on Michael Maguire has reached boiling point after Brisbane were humbled 46-20 by Melbourne at Suncorp Stadium.
Playing under the cloud of the Adam Reynolds farewell saga, the Broncos put on a performance that screamed of a team ready for the season to be over.
Maguire was already under pressure following a campaign to forget, where Brisbane have plummeted from premiers to near the bottom of the ladder with just seven wins, and the under siege coach needed this week's controversy like a hole in the head.
Thursday night's result turned that hole into a gaping wound.
The Broncos missed 43 tackles, made 14 errors in the eight-tries-to-four thrashing and have now conceded 186 points in their last five games.
Granted, Maguire didn't miss a single one of those tackles or make an error, but it was Brisbane's ninth-straight loss at home and it's clearer than ever that all is not well at this proud club.
Reynolds' absence was the story of the week, but it was also a sad home farewell for club great Payne Haas who will head to South Sydney in 2027. The 158-game front-rower deserved better.
The clash between last year's grand finalists saw the trial of a new rule, allowing the team conceding points to choose whether to kick off or receive the ball on the subsequent restart.
The Broncos elected to stick with the traditional response following Stefano Utoikamanu's opening try.
When Kotoni Staggs scored for the home side three minutes later, Melbourne made the same call.
There were five more tries in the first half, with the conceding side opting to stick with the status quo and kick off on each occasion and the Storm led 30-10 at the break.
It wasn't until the 50th minute that Melbourne, with winger Moses Leo in the sin bin, asked to receive after Ben Hunt crossed for Brisbane.
The Broncos returned serve later in the half and the Storm kicked off after Sua Faalogo touched down.
In the end the new option was exercised several times but the jury is still out on its success with both the Broncos' Pat Carrigan and Melbourne's Cam Munster suggesting after the game that it was not ideal.
For the visitors, it was a tenth win of an otherwise disappointing season with Siulagi Tuimalatu-Brown scoring a hat-trick and Tyran Wishart a double, while Faalogo continued with the form that has highlighted his breakout season.
Both teams have fallen a long way in 2026, and while the game did not have any bearing on finals calculations - that ship has long sailed - it's clear Brisbane have plunged to far deeper depths than their 2025 grand final protagonists.