Reaction: Shanahan Fired

In my weekend review two days ago, I mentioned that the Broncos and owner Pat Bowlen might need to take a look at the way the organization was being and run and the direction that has been taken over recent years. Little did I know, Bowlen was doing just that and dropped the stunning news yesterday that Mike Shanahan, the Broncos' coach for the last 14 years, was fired. The news was not stunning in the sense that it was uncalled for, of course, but in the sense that no owner and coach seemed to have a better relationship than Bowlen and Shanahan. In the end, it appears that Bowlen decided that Shanahan was not doing the job he would like, and most seem to agree that it was Shanahan's failings as a general manager that cost him the job.

It's hard to argue that there are many better coaching minds, especially offensive minds, in the NFL today than that of Mike Shanahan. Unfortunately, Shanahan was also in charge of virtually all personnel decisions in the Broncos' organization and the past several years have seen a multitude of poor choices in free agency, the draft and coach hirings. This is ultimately what cost Shanahan his job, as the team seemed to treading water defensively with a revolving door of has-beens and failed draft picks.

Talking to a friend of mine yesterday (a Raiders fan, no less), he argued that Shanahan's firing was unneccesary and that Shanahan did not deserve the blame for the team's collapse this season. He cited injuries that hit all three of the Broncos' starting linebackers are various times, forced them to place seven running backs on injured reserve, and cost them star corner Champ Bailey for significant time this year. He also argued that, all-in-all, few coaches actually have much impact on a team's success or failure, and that ultimately the players are responsible for whether a team wins or loses. In other words, coaches only get fired as sacrificial lambs for owners who can't just fire all the players. I think this is an intriguing point and it's worth examining more.

Basically, my friend's point was that, regarding coaches, owners take the approach that "since I'm paying him all this money, he better produce a winner." Well, since the coach doesn't really make that great a difference when it comes to team success, he argued, then maybe the owners shouldn't be paying the guy that much to begin with. I would argue that this may be true, but that there are coaches that make a big difference for their teams (guys like Bill Belichick, Shanahan himself and Tony Dungy) and because guys like these exist, that is the standard that all coaches are held to. The problem is that it is also the standard that all coaches are paid by, meaning many (if not most) coaches are, in fact, overpaid.

So back to the topic at hand and the question of whether Shanahan was deserving of the blame for the Broncos' collapse. I certainly understand my friend's argument that the coach isn't the one making the tackles, he isn't the one throwing the passes or running the ball, etc. But when it comes to the Broncos, the coach was the one choosing the guys to do those things, and that's why Shanahan was let go. Call it a pride thing that Bowlen didn't just ask Shanahan to hand over general manager duties, and only Bowlen truly knows if that was ever an option, but it seems unlikely that Shanahan would have accepted such an offer (essentially a demotion).

In the end, it's sad to see the Shanahan era end. As tough as the last several years have been to swallow as a Broncos fan, Shanahan is still the only coach to win a Super Bowl for the franchise and he still kept the team successful for virtually his entire tenure. I won't pretend to know where the Broncos will look for a replacement (of course everyone will wonder about Bill Cowher, but I think he's happy with his situation for now). All I know is that there is a lot of talent on the Broncos offense and the right defensive mind (and a little more defensive talent) might be all Denver needs to move into the NFL's upper echelon.

Did Pat Bowlen make the right decision? Are the Broncos better off with Shanahan gone? Share your thoughts with a comment below.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for the blog, please post below or I can be reached at chrisf884@gmail.com. Thanks for reading.