For Frustrated Fans, Spygate 2 Only Hope of Broncos Firing Josh McDaniels

A disturbing and potentially permeating problem broke today in the sports world: The NFL is investigating the Denver Broncos for possible cheating.

According to reports, the Broncos allegedly taped a Saturday walkthrough by the San Francisco 49ers on Oct. 30, the day prior to the two teams meeting in London, England.

Both teams practiced that Saturday in Wembley Stadium and Denver may have cheated. (Although, they must not have learned much, or were unable to use the tape to their advantage as San Francisco won 24-26.)

At the center of this controversy is Steve Scarnecchia, the Broncos director of video operations, who was also involved in the Patriots original Spygate in 2007.

In fact, both now Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels and Scanecchia were in New England for the first controversy that tarnished the reputation of the dominating dynasty that was the Patriots of the 2000s.

It left people questioning the team's integrity and illegitimated their dominance to some degree.

And while "Bellicheater" retained his position atop the Patriots, McDaniels will not be so lucky in Denver if these allegations are true.

McDaniels is already on the hot seat (at least in the eyes of Broncos Country, if not Pat Bowlen's and Joe Ellis' as well) due to poor performance (11-16 overall, 5-15 in the last 20 games) and questionable personnel decisions.

And while many Denver die-hards want McD out, the Broncos main men won't pay three coaches in 2011 (Shanahan is still owed $4.5 million for that year, McDaniels' $3 million and a new coach's salary) unless they are absolutely forced.  

But, if the Broncos indeed did cheat, whether or not McDaniels knew about it, he must be fired.

Why?

To trade away nearly all the identifiable stars from Denver, sign relative nobodies and be blown out repeatedly is bad enough.

But to cheat along the way is unforgivable.

And whether or not the NFL's findings are true, this is yet another black eye on the once-proud Broncos franchise that won back-to-back Super Bowls a decade ago.

Breaking 10:45 a.m. MT: The Broncos were found guilty, sort of. Scarnecchia worked on his own and McDaniels didn't watch the tape. But, McDaniels also didn't report the incident to the NFL, so both the Broncos and McDaniels were $50,000 each. Meaning, McDaniels will likely not be fired for this, although it will probably be tied to him in the future.

Rich Kurtzman is a freelance journalist actively seeking a career in journalism. Along with being a Denver Broncos and Denver Nuggets Featured Columnist for bleacherreport.com, Kurtzman is the CSU Rams and Fort Collins Beer Bars Examiner and the Colorado/Utah Regional Correspondent for stadiumjourney.com.

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