Vic Fangio has been on the hot seat since the offseason, and his seat has gotten a bit warmer during an active four-game losing streak. While the Broncos head coach has certainly lost the trust of the fans, it sounds like he’s also losing his locker room. According to Adam H. Beasley of ProFootballNetwork.com, “Fangio’s message is growing stale” and the HC is quickly losing a “segment” of his squad.
The latest hit was when the Broncos let the Browns’ backups beat them on Thursday Night Football. As Beasley writes, Fangio’s refusal to pull play-calling duties from offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur is one topic of contention. Denver has only scored 64 points over the past four games.
“We have to rally,” Fangio said (via Beasley). “We have to overcome our injuries. They can’t use them as excuses. We have to get back to playing better football as a team. Make more first downs, which will lead to touchdowns on offense. Play the run better on defense so that you do not get so many third-and-ones and third-and-twos.
“We just have to play better, and we have to coach better. I do not want to be remiss in saying that. We have to coach better, and we have got to adjust to what we have right now.”
Fangio went 12-20 through his first two seasons as head coach, including a disappointing 5-11 record in 2020. While the coach seemed to acknowledge that he’d on the hot seat, he also said his only focus is ending Denver’s losing streak.
“I’m not worried about my coaching status,” Fangio said (via Arnie Stapleton of the Associated Press). “What I’m worried about is this team and doing anything and everything we can to get our guys coached up to play better. And that’s my only focus.”
Fangio and his inept coaching staff are holding this team back.
Nah. His inept quarterbacks are holding them back. Even Belichek sucked until he landed Brady.
If P Manning buys into the team & John stays on, its always going to be a tough job. Add in Mahomes and Herbert. I suspect a lot of coaches will be churned over in Den.
No offense to either Vance Joseph or Vic Fangio: they’re both outstanding coordinators and qualified to be NFL head coaches. But they were both boring hires, and it looks like both aren’t going to work out.
In that division, with an outstanding Chiefs team, a Raiders team that is always going to grab headlines for various reasons, and a young up and coming Chargers squad, Denver needs not only a good coach but a personality, a vision. An Andy Reid, or a Bruce Arians.
Now, whether a team run by Elway can make that hire remains to be seen (yes I know he’s not the GM anymore but he still has a voice). The recent track record in Denver of making important decisions, whether coaches or draft choices or what have you, isn’t a great one.
I’m oddly impressed that these paragraphs are indented
I know I can ramble sometimes, but I myself simply cannot read long posts that aren’t spaced somehow, so I don’t expect you guys too.
I’m grateful, for one.
A four word comment by Ak185 is even rarer than indented paragraphs 🙂
Eh, that’s true.
Its crazy how people have such short term memories. Elway has helped lead Denver to 2 Super Bowls in the last 8 years, winning one. Only KC is better in the division. Only NE and Seattle are better outside the division. Thats pretty successful under Elway based on the FACTS.
Living in the past is the worst thing you can do in football. Yes, all those teams won the superbowl but that doesn’t mean anything for 2021. Broncos have been ran so poorly since Peyton retired. We’re on 6 straight years of mediocrity, so no one cares about the 4 great Manning years anymore. Seattle has been ran poorly too since Malcom Butler happened. Zero playoff success with a top 5 QB in football and the Jamal Adams trade was horrible. As for the Pats, Bill clearly can’t do anything without Brady. Without TB that team is nothing.
As a Cleveland Browns fan I can tell you I laughed when I saw Pat Shurmer in the booth. He was a horrible head coach, and sucked as an offensive “guru” here. He’s one of the most overrated offensive minds in the NFL, and yet he keeps getting hired and sucks everywhere he goes.
Shurmur has to go
Fangio is not really the problem. It’s Shurmur. If nothing else shows you that, just look at how his offense has performed when running tempo versus his standard pace. Shurmur knows that he has a better gear, but refuses to use it. Now, I get it, a team can’t run tempo all the time, but given how abjectly awful the offense has been, the refusal to make adjustments is fireable alone-even when not considering the inept playcalling.
The defense has given up 100 yards rushing the last four games, but considering their past performances under Fangio and the sheer glut of injuries to the starters, I’ll give him some benefit of the doubt.
The offense has given the defense a few bad situations too, so that hasn’t helped their stamina. It’s obvious to me that Shurmur (and Shula, by extension) is the single biggest problem with the team. Switching playcallers midseason in the same offense most likely will not be enough to save Denver, but Shurmur has not made any adjustments at all and deserves to be fired (or, at least, lose playcalling responsibilities). It’s not like they have another QB to give them a “spark” or anything to save Shurmur’s offense. I’d personally be okay with Fangio getting another chance with a decent offensive coordinator, but if he continues to tie his fate to Shurmur, there will be no chance of that happening.
Lou Saban DEAD is an upgrade to Vic!
At least Half-a-Loaf Lou got his team ties!
Vic is not Victory; he’s VicMisery.
Fangio may not be HC material but he is one of the best defensive minds in the league. He would probably be hired as a DC within a week of being fired by Denver.
Broncos are one great QB away. They have the offensive and defensive weapons. It’s Bridgewater that’s leaving points on the field. Annoying.
When the coach says things like “ we need to play better, we need to coach better” you know he is at a loss of what to do. He needs to go to KC as the D- Coordinator.
Vic has continually mismanaged timeouts, called for terrible challenges, refused to hold his staff (shurmur) accountable, and most recently he has referred to his players as ‘they’ while calling them out. The dude is a joke as a HC. He will be gone before the start of next year.
The problem now is you can’t very well nix HC, OC, STC, all at once can you?
Almost better off just losing games, taking the high draft pick, taking a QB in the draft and targeting a HC to pair with him.
If a HC calls out his players or hurts their feelings that is certainly grounds for his dismissal (sarcasm intended). Hank Stram called his players “rats”.
I can’t find any breaking news, but, for what it’s worth, Wikipedia already, at 9:45 am EST 10/24/22, describes Shurmur as the FORMER offensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos.
I keep waiting for Denver to hire Eric Bienemy as HC. Seems like a no brainer, to me.
I don’t know. If you do that, you are saying that you trust his offensive knowledge more than Reed’s when they see each other twice a year. Reed will know Bienemy’s offense inside and out-will Bienemy do the same? I can’t say 100% that I think he would, especially because he doesn’t call plays full time. Bienemy’s first chance should not be facing Andy Reid twice a year.