Coaching Staff – Time to Move On
Read Time:4 Minute, 52 Second
I have always been one to be lenient and give people time (coaches and players), one season is not enough, especially when the team around them is not talented. I agreed it was time to move on from bad situations like Vance Joseph and Josh McDaniels, and Vic Fangio has gotten three years to prove that he can lead us to be a winning franchise again. He’s proven in my mind that he is not the guy and doesn’t have the skill, outside of being a great Defensive mind.
Consistently the defense has been impressive, but turns out impressive defense with inept offense does not win games. His first season we went 7-9 after Drew Lock came in the last five games and went 4-1. A weird decision was made however, and Rick Scangarello, the offensive coordinator, was let go after the impressive end to the season with a potential franchise QB looking comfortable in the system. To be fair, the team did score 40 more points the following year after Scangarello’s departure, but I think there is a lot more to the story than that.
Covid-19, a new OC, new quarterbacks coach, tons of injuries and the fifth hardest schedule in the NFL would ultimately submarine the team to a 5-11 record in 2020. We could make excuses all day long, but the reality of the situation is that they drafted 10th overall and became a worse team in terms of wins and losses. That should have been the first sign that the coaching staff was to blame, and put them on the hot seat.
I wish there was a world where Vic Fangio steps down to Defensive Coordinator, keeps this defense performing at a very high level and we bring in a better head coach type and new offensive coordinator, but I just don’t believe that this is the culture of the NFL. Coaches don’t take demotions well, and he wouldn’t be happy. Vic Fangio has some glaring holes in his coaching resume being one for nine on coaches challenges in his Broncos tenure. He’s 1-25 when being down at halftime, meaning that he doesn’t adjust well mid-game to being outcoached. Finally, he is 5-13 versus division opponents with major losing streaks versus the Chiefs and Raiders.
The Denver Broncos were sitting at 7-6, staring down a potential playoff run, when they rattled off three straight sub-thirteen point games and lost all three. The offense has been admittedly terrible for years, and the team has been in this “if we don’t turn the ball over we will win football games” mindset, but the reality is that in todays NFL, you have to be able to score points even with a mighty defense. Teddy Bridgewater was the ultimate attempt to follow this philosophy throwing only seven interceptions in fourteen games played, netting a 7-7 record with the 5th easiest schedule in the NFL.
I will always wonder what could have been with Lock under Scangarello for 2020, but the team allowed Vic Fangio to fire him and move on to Pat Shurmur who has again and again proven that he isn’t a talented offensive coordinator showcased by his only offensive success in the NFL came the season in Philadelphia where Chip Kelly called the plays. Every other season as an OC, he has produced a bottom third of the NFL in offensive ranking and points scored. At the very least, the team needs to replace Shurmur but the best case scenario, they bring in an offensive-minded, football intelligent, head coach who will bring with him intellectuals who can get this offense moving in the right direction.
The defense is as talented as any defense in the NFL, demonstrated by being the #2 defense in the NFL in terms of points against despite a terrible and boring offense. With any offensive success and the ability to score more than 20 points a game, I believe this team can be successful. I do believe the current roster has some really amazing assistants, and even the entire defensive coaching staff has been outstanding, if there was a world where the new head coach could keep the old defensive staff, that could be beneficial.
Tom McMahon has been a bad special teams coach since season one in this current coaching regime… how he’s managed to keep a job season after season is laughable. Last game we had a big kickoff return to start the game, a muffed punt and a kickoff returned for a touchdown later in the game. Criminal that he has kept his job this long, and I cannot wait for him to be let go.
People speculate and wonder if the ownership situation has to figured out before they move on from Fangio, to let the new owners play a part in the head coach selection process. Fingers crossed we don’t have to battle through another losing season at the hands of Vic Fangio and Pat Shurmur.
My final opinions:
- Fire Head Coach Vic Fangio
- Fire Offensive Coordinator Pat Shurmur
- Fire Special Teams Coordinator Tom McMahon
- Try to encourage the new regime to keep coaches like Ed Donatell (DC), Zach Azzanni (WR), Mike Munchak (OL), John Pagano (LBs), Bill Kollar (DL)
- Hire new head coach from the current offensive coordinator pool (Nathaniel Hackett, Eric Bieniemy, Brian Daboll, Kevin O’Connell, Kellen Moore)
- Drew Lock will be in town, but they must draft a 1st round quarterback or be a major player for every big name free agent quarterback in the league
- Hitting 2022 without a no brainer future or immediate future at quarterback will be a failure of the front office and ill be writing another one of these articles about why the front office has failed. Seven years of no franchise QB is unbelievable.
Happy
0 %
Sad
100 %
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
0 %
Surprise
0 %
0
0
Average Rating