In the wake of Monday’s news that John Elway has accepted a ‘high’ role on the Denver Broncos board, the team will hire a new GM. The future of the franchise is very much in question.
Vic Fangio’s position as head coach, however, is not. The Broncos are not ‘exploding’, but are keeping Fangio looking for continuity.
Just a day after the biggest news that hit the Broncos Country in almost a decade spread like wildfire, Fangio talked about the safety of his current team’s work and whether there will be any coaches fired after the team finished 5-11.
“No, I foresee the full return,” said Fangio on Tuesday. “As always, things happen at the beginning of the off-season, some guys may have some opportunities for advancement. We’ll always look at it, but other than that, I’m waiting for the team to come back. “
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It was last week that ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that Fangio would return for his third season in Denver. Although the announcement was not necessarily a surprise to those in Mile High City, the timing seemed strange because of the significant areas of improvement that Fangio and his team have not yet fully mastered.
At the end of the season against the Las Vegas Raiders, Fangio again demonstrated his difficulty in managing the game as head coach. In the Raiders’ final blow, the defensive guru chose to use Denver’s remaining two halves, which Las Vegas used to regroup and explore with a touchdown and converting two points into consecutive moves.
The Broncos’ attack took just 24 seconds to attempt an impulse that would hopefully set up a winning field goal. It wasn’t on the cards, as the Broncos lost their 11th loss of the season, dropping 32-31 to the Raiders.
In the past two seasons, it has been painfully obvious that Fangio is uncomfortable with time management, attack and special teams. As well as the loss to the Tennessee Titans at the opening of the season, in which the management of Fangio’s watch and the use of timeout in the clutch led directly to the team’s first loss, his 32 games as head coach revealed that his defensive Xs and insights, and play, interrupt your responsibilities as head coach.
Fangio compiled a record 12-20 with a winning percentage of 0.375. When asked whether he evaluates his own performance for the season, Fangio was cautious.
“Absolutely. We will evaluate everything from A to Z and we have already started,” said Fangio. “We will study other teams, as many as we can in the given time, and we will pass each stone in an effort to improve.”
It was theorized that veteran coach Ed Donatell was severely underutilized as Denver’s defensive coordinator. With 30 years of experience as a coach in the NFL, Donatell is now on his third stint at the Broncos and has worked for the past 10 years with Fangio on previous stints in San Francisco and Chicago.
Fangio said he prefers to call games from the booth, but gave a vague answer when asked if he would consider transferring the functions of calling games to Donatell.
“I think it fits what I said before,” said Fangio. “Whatever we can do from A to Z to improve, we will analyze and evaluate and see if we think it is the best thing to do.”
Another area for improvement is undoubtedly the unit of special teams that has been terrible under coordinator Tom McMahon. The 51-year-old veteran coach was hired by Denver in 2018 and many fans have publicly asked for McMahon’s resignation on social media, and the same can be said of offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur, who will also return.
The fact is that the last time the Broncos’ special teams were ranked in the top 10 was in 2001. It can be argued that the special teams were pushed aside due to inconsistency and lack of depth in the squad.
“I think the performance of our special teams was very similar to our attack and defense,” said Fangio on Tuesday. “I was agitated at times. We allowed a lot of negative plays to happen against us in the return game. We block a punt or two that you can’t have.
Fangio was also asked what gives him confidence in McMahon.
“I have confidence in Tom that he will come out on top, said Fangio. “Tom was a guy that John [Elway] It was highly recommended to me when I accepted this job, and we kept Tom. He is a tireless worker, very knowledgeable about the kick game. We just have to – as we do in attack and defense – stifle these things to avoid disastrous moves. “
Going into Fangio’s third season, there seems to be more questions than answers. What is the identity of the team? What is Fangio’s mission statement? How will Fangio improve?
Assuming that the NFL and Broncos are better prepared and equipped for another bizarre offseason with potential COVID-19 restrictions, Fangio is maintaining an optimistic outlook for his future.
“I hope that the third year will be a magical year for me, where everything will go well again,” said Fangio.
Follow Luke on Twitter @LukePattersonLP and @MileHighHuddle.