Shanahan Out In Denver

From Matt Bowen:

After 14 seasons in Denver, the Pony Show is over for Mike Shanahan. Forget about the 20 million dollars he has left remaining on his contract, or the fact that he has WON 2 Super Bowls. This is the modern day NFL, and as any player, coach, or executive, we all know it stands for “Not for long.”

Surprising? Probably.  But to sit here and say that you didn’t see it coming would be unfair, because we all did. Another mediocre season, another winter at home, another off-season filled with starting over with the same philosophies that John Elway played with. Maybe some of the players were too comfortable with the Shanahan way, or maybe some of them were given a free pass when it came to training camp. Or maybe, just maybe, the suits in the skyboxes at Broncos’ games had seen enough. Enough to make this change.

Alas, a day after “Black Monday,” the hammer came down next to the Rocky Mountains. There will be no more zone blocking schemes, no more running back by committee that made so many guys famous in this league.

The Denver Broncos are starting over.

In saying that, it has to make you think how long 14 years in the NFL really is. I played for 7 years, half of that time, and it felt like an eternity. And that included stops in four different cities. Think about Shanahan. 14 years in the same city, wearing the same colors, coaching the same way.

But, football will go on in Denver, just as it will in New York, Detroit, Cleveland, and most likely Kansas City. It is the life these coaches live, but you just had to think that it would go on forever in Denver. For many fans of this league, he is the only face they really associate with the Denver Broncos. That’s it. This isn’t the Washington Redskins where coaches come and go as fast as rookie free agents. Some might even say it resembled their universities, places where coaches are given time, resources, and second chances to make things work. Sooner or later, it would work out. Folks, that doesn’t happen in this league, but we also don’t see coaches who stay at one place for 14 years.

The players—the ones that have been a Bronco for a while—will struggle with the adjustment. Meeting times, practice times, even the dress code on the plane is likely to change. Everything they know—when it comes to being a Denver Broncos football player—will change. Free agents, who signed in Denver, because of the image of Shanahan, or the fact that he treated veterans of this league with the utmost respect, will hold their breath as the coaching search begins. Begging, heck, praying, for someone that will equal—or at least try to emulate—the style of Mike Shanahan.

You can sit here and tell me all you want about the late season collapse, or the fact that Denver has fallen on tough times this year, but it will be different.

I was part of the coaching change from Steve Spurrier to Joe Gibbs in Washington. You want to talk about a complete and drastic change? It was, well, brutal. Everything changed. Some players adjusted, and some didn’t. The ones who didn’t found themselves looking for jobs, and even some of the guys who bought into the new discipline were sent walking. They might have fit in with Spurrier’s staff, but not with Gibbs.

Thanks son, but you just aren’t going to fit with this team.

So, this is big news, for the assistant coaches as well—who are also looking for a new job. Houses go up for sale, lockers will soon be cleaned out, and an extra mini-camp is waiting for the players of the Denver Broncos.

Well, for the one’s that the new coach wants to keep around—if only for a while.

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