george paton-vic fangio-nfl-broncos-denver-denver broncos-gm-general manager-john elway

January 4, 2022 By: Kevin Kissner

Despite shortcomings, Vic Fangio could be the Denver Broncos head coach in 2022

‘NFL’ stands for ‘Not For Long,’ right? Well, not if you’re Denver Broncos head coach Vic Fangio.

Common logic would suggest that if a head coach goes three straight seasons without having a winning record, or a .500 record, that coach would get fired.

With just one game left in the NFL season, Denver general manager George Paton is unclear of what he wants to do at the head coaching position.

The Broncos enter Week 18 with a 7-9 record, but will be hosting the Kansas City Chiefs who are still fighting for the number one seed in the AFC. This means Andy Reid has no choice but to play his starters and has the chance to beat the Broncos for the 13^th straight time dating back to Week 2 of the 2015 season.

Denver will likely lose to the Chiefs once again and fall to a 7-10 record. With the final decision still up in the air, it could come down to how bad Fangio’s team gets beat by Kansas City.

Are there going to be 60-70% Chiefs fans overruling Mile High on Saturday to where it’s noticeable on TV?

Could there be close to 15-20,000 no-shows at the game?

All of this comes into play for Denver’s decision on Fangio.

Here’s what I’m hearing.

Throughout the season, I’ve been told that it’s playoffs or bust for Fangio. No playoffs meant he can pack his bags and get a defensive coordinator position the next day. If there was a miracle and his team made the playoffs, he would be guaranteed the final year of his four-year contract.

Well, it doesn’t sound like it’s playoffs or bust anymore.

A couple of weeks ago I was talking with a source close to the situation and this person told me that they know Fangio will be canned after the season.

I’ve also been told that Paton is more loyal to Fangio than people realize and that there’s a chance that Fangio could stick around for one more rodeo. Don’t forget that while the Broncos were interviewing Paton for their GM job, Fangio was in the room and part of the interview process as well. Once Paton and Denver agreed to terms, they all went out to John Elway’s steakhouse to celebrate.

Then this week, reports have come out from Ian Rapoport of The NFL Network saying that the Broncos are unsure of what they want to do with Fangio. This also lines up with what I’ve heard multiple times recently.

Not only is this Paton’s decision to move on from Fangio, but it’s also will be up to team president Joe Ellis. Paton has five more year’s left on his contract, but Ellis’ deal is up once the NFL league year comes to a close. Ellis is part of the three-person trust and will be the lead guy in searching for a new owner to purchase the Broncos in the spring.

So, I’ve continued to ask the question, why does Ellis need to have a say in the decision making of the current head coach and possibly the hiring of a new one?

Ellis vetoed former GM John Elway from bringing back Mike Shanahan to be the head coach of the Broncos for a second time. Long story short, it’s time for Ellis to focus on selling the team and move on from the Denver franchise.

There’s also been a narrative floated out there that maybe Paton can’t hire a new head coach because there will be a new owner in place by the spring, and that owner would want to have say on who the next head coach will be.

I’ve also been told that Paton has the green light and can make the coaching change if he wants, even before the new owner is in place. Maybe Paton and the potential new owner already have talked on who they want to replace Fangio. Nobody other than Paton knows the truth there.

At the end of the day, Paton needs to fire Fangio and move on, but the belief behind the scenes is that the organization might be too scared to move on from the defensive minded head coach because they like him too much and believe that his defense isn’t the reason why the team has struggled.

Fangio’s defense is a top five scoring defense in the NFL, but it took three years to accomplish during his tenure with the Broncos. On top of that, his defense is going to need rebuilding once free agency opens.

Once the season is over, Fangio will meet with Ellis and Paton to discuss his future. There might be belief from the front office that maybe Fangio’s defense can be compelling to sell to Aaron Rodgers or Russell Wilson via trade for both players.

People in Denver don’t respect Fangio the head coach, but I can tell you that in the NFL circles, people love Fangio and have the utmost respect for the guy.

Don’t forget that Rodgers wanted to head to Denver last season with Fangio as the head coach.

Maybe Denver keeps Fangio and overhauls the offensive coaching staff. Maybe Fangio is shown the door after the team’s regular season finale. Only time will tell.

That said, it’s hard to justify to an incredibly loyal fanbase why the franchise shouldn’t move on from the head coach who has the most losses in his first three seasons in Broncos history.