Reid Fischer's World of Rants

A number of Broncos fans think this is a great day.  I do not think this is a great day.

The Josh McDaniels firing was unexpected that’s for sure.  Today was supposed to be about the CU Buffs and their new coaching hire, Jon Embree.  I really bad for Embree, who accepted his dream job today, and found himself relegated to the back page.  From I what I saw today meeting him for the first time, I think he will be very successful as CU coach, and he’s not the type of guy who cares about whether he is in the spotlight or not.  I just think he should get his due.

Now, to the other matter at hand.  I know many Broncos are doing cartwheels today.  I’m not one of them.  Of course I am upset that the Broncos are 5-17 in their last 22 games dating back to last season.  Of course I’m not happy that the Broncos have been associated with Spygate II or whatever the official term is for the videotaping incident.  Of course I’m not thrilled about some of the personnel moves that have been made.  Despite all that, I find the timing of the Josh McDaniels firing to be puzzling in a number of ways.  Why now?  Why not wait to see what happens in the last four games?  Better yet, why not give him a chance to see what happens next year with a healthy roster?  As I said last week, by making this move at this time, when McDaniels has coached just 29 NFL games, you’re basically saying you’re going to start over again.

I’m certainly not saying that I don’t understand the Broncos’ point of view here.  I know Pat Bowlen looked at the sea of empty seats at the last home game against St. Louis and was fearful of the attendance numbers at the final two home games.  I know Bowlen was embarrassed to have the Broncos be associated with a cheating scandal, however remotely.  I’m sure Bowlen is also very aware of fan feedback, and the fact is most fans wanted McDaniels fired.  In fact, most Broncos fans hated him from the word go.  People say the Broncos have fallen from the elite and that they aren’t one of the league’s prime teams anymore.  That all is true, but they were headed that direction before McDaniels came on board.  Remember, they missed the playoffs in six of Mike Shanahan’s last 10 seasons, and every time they made it in those ten seasons they got blown out by vastly superior teams.  Given that, you certainly can’t blame the Broncos for making a coaching change.

I guess what upsets me so much is I don’t feel that anyone even gave McDaniels a chance.  He was roasted universally for his handling of Jay Cutler, yet Kyle Orton has proven to be better (Besides, Pat Bowlen is the one who ordered that Cutler be traded).  He was roasted for his handling of Brandon Marshall, yet the Broncos don’t miss him either because Brandon Lloyd has been outstanding.  I agree that the Peyton Hillis trade was bad, and some of his other personnel moves were bad, but Mike Shanahan made his series of horrible moves too.  Dale Carter.  Travis Henry.  Benching Jake Plummer (who I still say got a really bad rap and deserves a lot more credit for the work he did here).  First round busts Marcus Nash, George Foster and Jarvis Moss.  Maurice Clarett in the third round when every other team agreed he shouldn’t have been drafted at all.  I could go on but you get the idea.  The point is that McDaniels isn’t alone in making personnel errors.  I will also point out that Shanahan is 5-7 in his first season with the Redskins and I think they are clearly worse than they were last season, so the grass isn’t always necessarily greener on the other side.

Frankly I am pretty certain that things are not going to get better overnight for the Broncos.  In fact, they might get worse before they get better.  I think the new coach could well come in and decide he needs to start over.  For starters, it will be interesting to see what happens with Tim Tebow.  McDaniels made him the face of the franchise and the future, but most teams weren’t so high on him.  Many teams had him rated as a fourth round pick or below.  It stands to reason another coach may not think he is the answer and then there would be another wasted draft pick.  In any case, I think it will take a long time to turn this around with a new coach.  I’m not saying McDaniels would have taken them to the playoffs next year, but as I said last week I think he deserved a chance to see if things could work with a healthy roster next season.

Since the Broncos will likely be paying three coaches next season (unless they fire McDaniels for cause because of the videotaping incident), it is unlikely they will be able to afford a big name like Bill Cowher or Jon Gruden.  Our trustworthy insider Adam Schefter mentioned two names: Vikings interim coach Leslie Frazier and Air Force head coach Troy Calhoun.  The first one I think is unlikely because I think Minnesota will want to retain him.  The second I think could be a real possibility because Calhoun was a Broncos assistant once upon a time.  I’ll also throw out Gary Kubiak, who will likely be fired by the Texans at the end of the year unless they turn it around.  Regardless of who it is, that person will have a big chore ahead of them returning the Broncos to prominence.

I just have one plea for my fellow Broncos fans: give this next coach a chance.  Don’t roast him from the moment he walks in the door.  I’m not going to say McDaniels did a great job, but you don’t know how next year would have turned out.  With a healthy roster next year, who knows they might have been a playoff team.  In fact, I guarantee McDaniels will someday be an outstanding coach with another team (It’s happened before, look at Bill Belichick now after he was run out of Cleveland in the mid 90s).

Unlike most Broncos fans, I do not find this to be a great day.