Can’t anybody around here coach football?
Coaches of the Broncos, the Buffs and the Rams have been September sad sacks. They are a combined 1-9.
Woebegone Colorado has been outscored 173-47 in four losses. Distressed Colorado State has been outscored 164-43 in four defeats. And the Broncos, more “Angst-Ridden” than “Let’s Ride”, have scored two touchdowns in two games and only lead the NFL in penalty yards.
Thank goodness for Troy Calhoun’s Falcons, who have averaged 37.75 points in four games and won three.
In an ESPN “Bottom 10’’ parody poll of college teams, the Buffaloes and the Rams were ranked third and fourth the past week. They may be Nos. 1-2 after blowouts and beatdowns to UCLA and Sacramento State.
The Broncos are also-rans so far in the NFL after barely falling to the Seahawks and barely nudging past the Texans — playing poorly on offense and special teams in both. In 2013 the Broncos scored 100 points in their first two games.
Karl Dorrell in Boulder and Jay Norvell in Ft. Collins can’t win for losing, and CU athletic director Rick George has been reduced to pleading to Buffaloes backers to not give up while CSU AD Joe Parker mostly is keeping his mouth shut.
Meanwhile in Denver, Nathaniel Hackett has been receiving advice on how to be a head coach from general manager George Paton and assistant GM Darren Mougey. He’d already gotten help from thousands of Broncos fans who counted down the play clock last Sunday. Against San Fran the crowd should get to vote on play calls in the Red Zone, where the Broncos are an NFL low 0-6.
Kyle Shanahan, Hackett’s adversary, is publicly defending him.
Hackett wanted to coach the Broncos so badly.
He is.
Hackett gets a third chance to create a first impression Sunday night and prove he is not a national ignominy in a clash with The Man Who Should Have Been Broncos Coach.
Shanahan The Younger, returning home, was a finalist for the Broncos’ head coaching position in 2017. Although VP-GM John Elway said Shanahan gave a terrific interview and would be an excellent head coach. Kyle, who considered the Broncos his dream job, never believed he had a realistic opportunity for the job. The relationship between Elway and Shanahan The Elder, once the closest of friends, had cooled considerably, and Ellis had persuaded owner Pat Bowlen to fire Mike. The Broncos selected Vance Joseph, “a leader of men’’ with a defensive and dubious background.
The Broncos didn’t fully vet Joseph, who had serious personal issues as an assistant coach with CU, where he played. Vance turned out to be an inferior head coach with weak gameday management skills. He finished two seasons with a 11-21 record and was finished. However, Kyle, the 49ers coach, was even worse with a 10-22 mark in 2017-18. But he took San Francisco to the Super Bowl in his third season.
Strangely enough, Elway and Mike Shanahan seriously discussed the possibility of the former coach returning to the Broncos as head coach following Joseph’s first season. But Ellis nixed the potential deal.
Ultimately and unfortunately, Vic Fangio, another defense-oriented specialist, was hired after the ’18 season to his first head-coaching post. He, too, suffered with sideline and game management choices and was as unsuccessful as Joseph with his offense. Fangio lasted three uneventful years.
With George Paton in control of the hiring of a new head coach this year (although both Elway and Ellis participated in the process), Hackett, 42 and advertised as a dynamic, intelligent and innovative offensive coach with an electric personality, was chosen.
Yet, two games into 2022, the Broncos, even with the arrival of quarterback Russell Wilson and an almost entirely new coaching staff for the third time in five seasons, continue to endure a plethora of problems, primarily because of dicey decisions by the head coach. For example, Hackett tries to win a game with a 64-yard field goal at sea level, but can’t make up his mind to attempt a critical 54-yard field goal at altitude, draws a delay-of-game penalty and punts.
Under Joseph and Fangio, the Broncos averaged four delay-of-game violations a year. Hackett has four in two games and can’t figure out when to signal for a timeout. He promises to clean up and tighten up Sunday.
Hackett, Dorrell and Norvell need to be coached up by Calhoun.
Welcome to Colorado – a state of football flux.
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