I may be the only one saying it, but the era of Shanahan must come to an end.
Yes, I am aware of the Bronco Country reverence toward Mr. Shanahan, but at this point, he is without excuse.
For years, I watched as Gary Kubiak resided under Mike Shanahan. The head coach received far too much credit for the dominance of the Broncos during the 1990's. Proof? Shannon Sharpe. John Elway. Terrell Davis. Ed McCaffery. Steve Atwater and the Dangerous Denver Defense. (In the Hall/Top 3 All-Time. In the Hall/Top 10 All-Time. Should be. Questionable. No explanation needed) I believe that most NFL coaches were incapable of not leading such a supercharged team to a Super Bowl victory.
Then, on a sad and fateful day, Kubiak left the Broncos (with Shanahan's blessing) for the head coach job of the Houston Texans. Immediately, the presence of Kubiak in the Denver offense was noticeable. However, Shanahan still had one scapegoat left: Larry Coyer.
The Broncos proceeded to struggle, primarily on defense (exemplified by the 2006 game against the Indianapolis Colts during which the Broncos PLAYED MAN TO MAN DEFENSE AND DID NOT BLITZ PEYTON MANNING). Soon afterward, the people called for Larry Coyer's head and it was delivered to them promptly.
Just you and me now, Shanahan. Damn it, Jake Plummer. OK OK, so soon after the release of atrocious (post-season) Plummer, Shanahan was isolated in the realm of culpability.
Thus far, Shanahan has been given incredible cards, such as the Ace of an arm in Jay Cutler and the defensive thieves of Dre Bly and Champ Bailey. Injuries have plagued the Denver Broncos, but nothing has spread so disgustingly as the coaching of Mike Shanahan. Deep pass plays on 1st downs, run plays on 3rd and Long, missed conversions, pre-emptive (and backfiring) timeouts before field goals... the list goes on and on.
I'm just putting it out there, Bronco Country. When the Denver Broncos unfathomably miss the playoffs while two games ahead of the Chargers and a relatively easy road to the end of the season, consider who really needs to go.
