11/05/24
December 30, 2008
Broncos Fire Shanahan After 14 Seasons: No head coach is safe! If Mike Shanahan can be fired as head coach of the Denver Broncos, is any NFL head coach immune from being voted off the island?
I'm not sure I should be after the way the Broncos capitulated this season, but I'm shocked.
This should make the next fantasy season a little easier however. I never went anywhere near Bronco runningbacks because Shanahan changed his mind about which one he liked every nine seconds.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 07:51 PM on December 30, 2008
Bill Bellichek
One l, two i's. Just sayin'.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 09:46 PM on December 30, 2008
Jeff Fisher.
I'm shocked the Broncos dumped Shanahan, though admittedly the team hasn't seen much playoff success since Elway's retirement. That last three game collapse was pretty galling.
posted by rcade at 09:51 PM on December 30, 2008
Not really shocked. Like rcade said, the guy has been living off the success of the Elway years for quite some time now, and the Broncos were one of the most ridiculously inconsistent teams I've ever seen this year. The complete beat-down at the hands of the Chargers last Sunday, with the division on the line (incredibly) was the straw that broke the camel's back. All in all, though, not a bad gig for a potential head coach to walk into.
posted by dyams at 10:40 PM on December 30, 2008
Rcade, I'd like to think that Jeff Fisher is immune, but his name (albeit not on the block now of course) has come up in recent years, and there have been disagreements in the past between him and Bud Adams. Of course, a Super Bowl ring can buy you at least a couple years.
posted by bender at 07:49 AM on December 31, 2008
Belichick may be immune from the axe, but don't be surprised if he decides to hang it up if he wins another Super Bowl. Last year took a lot out of him, what with the video tape, the (almost) perfect year, and the rest of it. He seemed better this year, particularly when a patched up team began to play well late in the season, but I still think he's ready to go.
Shanahan always impressed me as a very good single-game coach who could put an offensive game plan into effect that would work against the best of defenses. The problem is that this requires players to execute same, and I don't think Denver was very well stacked this year. You can't fire 53 players, so guess who goes.
Anyone who would fire Jeff Fisher, regardless of record, is not paying attention. His teams always play hard no matter their personnel situation and are just damn tough to face.
posted by Howard_T at 12:33 PM on December 31, 2008
Howard_T is right - Shanahan's a great game-day coach. The problem is he's a very average GM. His personnel choices have generally been unproductive with a few exceptions like Cutler. Many of his free agent moves in particular have been disasters.
The defense has been flat-out terrible for the last few years. This season's collapse was a disappointment, but everyone here in Denver knew they would get worked in the playoffs anyway. Especially if they played Indy, who's had the Broncos' number for years.
posted by drumdance at 04:16 PM on December 31, 2008
And thus ends an era in Denver.
Though I think the SD-Den game was very much a pink-slip bowl. Which ever head coach had lost that game was going to be fired, imho.
posted by Bonkers at 01:59 AM on January 01, 2009
As an Eagle fan, I would love to see Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb stay in Philly, but it sounds like both may be gone after the season. Then we'll probably go into mediocracy.
posted by jjzucal at 01:36 AM on January 02, 2009
At least it's a short trip.
posted by The_Black_Hand at 08:46 AM on January 02, 2009
Yahoo! Sports was suggesting that Mike was looking around for other work. It doesn't make sense but it does explain him getting the pink slip.
That being said, Denver lost to SF to miss the playoffs last year as well. Great coach, bad GM. Mike's big mistake is he won the power struggle to become GM and therefore had no one to take the fall.
posted by jc at 03:08 PM on January 02, 2009
Bill Bellichek.