McDaniels Era Over in Denver

Pat Bowlen relieved Josh McDaniels of his coaching duties on Monday following the team's 10-6 loss at Kansas City on Sunday. The loss dropped the Broncos to 3-9 on the season. McDaniels finished with an overall record of 11-17 in Denver. The Broncos have promoted interim coach Eric Studesville for the remainder of the four games. The move to fire McDaniels is not surprising, but the timing of it is interesting. Pat Bowlen obviously felt that a change was needed and he needed to make the change now. The Broncos are in a tailspin, and the organization is at its' lowest point in a long, long time- certianly my lifetime circa 1979. Where the Broncos go from here is anyone's guess. Pat Bowlen is just as responsible for the decline of this team as anyone else. Bowlen needs to refocus and restructure his organization. He needs to find a quality front office football executive. That person must have a strong voice in the player personnel department (Free Agency, Draft, Trades), and then Bowlen has to select the right man for the head coaching job. That man should be one who has some head coaching experience. Of course a wish list of head coaches should start with names like Jon Gruden, Bill Cowher, Jeff Fisher (If available from Tennessee), andTony Sparano (If available from Miami). The Broncos could also look into the coaching ranks at someone like Jim Harbaugh from Stanford. Troy Calhoun from Air Force has already been mentioned as a potential candidate because of his ties to the Broncos from earlier this decade under Mike Shanahan. Bowlen should stay away from the "Hot Assistant." Don't bother with Rob Ryan, Jason Garrett, Leslie Frazier, Perry Fewell, and coaches of that nature. The next head coach in Denver has to be a homerun or else the Broncos will quickly be mentioned in the same NFL atmosphere as the Bills and the Lions.

As far as McDaniels goes, I have to be honest I did like the hire of him in Denver. I really defended him a lot, and I thought he was going to be a solid HC in Denver. I wouldn't have minded if they gave him another year, but I understand why Bowlen fired him. The Spygate Part II scandal sealed McD's fate, and there was no turning back for the fans after that all came out. He was given the keys to the franchise at 32, and he made questionable move after questionable move. The trades of Jay Cutler, Brandon Marshall, and Peyton Hillis really sent fans over the edge, and his other personnel mistakes (Alphonso Smith and Laurence Maroney) didn't help his tenure in the Mile High City. Unfortunately, it didn't work out for McDaniels and he will probably end up being an OC for a team in the near future-something that we at least know he is good at. I do feel sorry for McDaniels because as a coach you hate to see someone lose their job, but the NFL is a rough business and the fact that the Broncos were 5-17 after going 6-0 in 2009 made it a relatively easy decision on the part of the Broncos braintrust. McDaniels legacy in Denver was always going to be tied to the Cutler trade, and that is where is downfall really began.

As I said after Shanahan got fired in 2008, I stated that the the Broncos will rise up again , and turn this thing around, but the question is: Does Pat Bowlen know how to do that?