Mike Shanahan's Fall and What it Means for the Denver Broncos

Every day of his life is scripted, his days mapped out in thick three-ring binders. He and his staff work 100-hour weeks during the season, 30 hours of which he spends putting into writing how he ought to act in every conceivable situation. "What are we going to do on fourth and one from the 33-yard line?"...The best seller Don't Sweat the Small Stuff is not for him, because the champion, in his view, always sweats the small stuff. "Sweat it morning, noon, and night," he preaches.

The New York Review of Books 24 February, 2000.

Much water is under the bridge since Mike Shanahan left the Denver Broncos at the beginning of this year. In many ways, he is already old news, and the verdict on him (Future Hall of Famer who ran out of gas in the Mile High City, but will be back successfully somewhere else) seems to be settled.

I think I agree with this consensus. But, now the dust has settled somewhat, I find I’ve got a lot to say about Mike Shanahan and the Denver Broncos, who, three months after Shanahan’s dismissal, find themselves approaching a crisis.

As a hardcore fan, I guess I ask first: How did we get here? And then: Where are we going? This is an attempt to answer these questions.

I’ll start with Shanahan. To me he was a unique football coach who ran the Broncos in an extraordinary fashion. But when all is said and done, I don’t necessarily mean this as an unconditional compliment.

The Broncos under Shanahan always matched up well against a certain type of opposition. There was nothing the “Mastermind” liked more than to come up against a conservative, attritional team which relied on defense and a strong running game to win. Indeed he always looked and sounded confident before matchups of this type.

It was apparent he had absolute faith in his astonishing ability to script offensive plays and to put a certain amount of points on any defense. He also knew he only had to take away one aspect of a team's offense, so he would put all his eggs in one basket and do just that, and make the team beat him with whatever it was they did least well offensively.

Conversely, the best way to win against the Broncos was actually to beat Shanahan at his own game. If Denver brought a mighty offence, the Colts always brought an even mightier one. And, time and time again, Peyton Manning and Co. owned Denver.

Equally in the last really big game Denver ever played under Shanahan (the 2005 AFC Championship), the Steelers beat them because Shanahan underestimated what Ben Roethlisberger could do at quarterback. The whole Broncos' defensive game plan centered around limiting Willie Parker and Jerome Bettis, so Bill Cowher let Big Ben off the leash and he killed Denver through the air.

And there was bitter irony in that seminal day for Bronco lovers. Seven years before, Dan Reeves had decided he must stop Terrell Davis and make Elway beat him in Superbowl XXXIII. The box was stacked, safeties bit like Rottweilers, and Elway torched the Falcons for 300 yards plus and the MVP award.

Shanahan was in his pomp then. NFL films famously captured him taking one look at some aerial photos of the Falcons defense and literally taking Elway step by step through how he was going to hit Rod Smith for an 80-yard touchdown. The play worked out exactly as Shanahan described it.

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