Featured Poll -- The Mike Shanahan Edition

If we’re not a contender by then, I’ll bet he steps aside and takes a job in collage or something.

Pat and Mike need to look at themselves and see where the management issues truly lie. Would Mike be better served with less responsibility (see Mike Holmgran “demotion” a couple of years ago), in need of a true “equal” on the defensive side of the ball or do we continue to charge ahead, allow our young minds (Bates etc) to grow and develop? As long as they do some soul searching and make wise football management decisions after the emotion of the season has past, I’ll be happy and supportive. As many people here have already said, the Broncos record reflects on who they are as a team. I’m okay with that for 2008 and will have higher expectations for more progress heading into next season.

Shanny has been an excellent front office guy. However, as we all know, this league is becoming more agile and involved; I think there needs to be established people for each role in the organization. We definitely don’t want to turn this into an Al Davis, monarchy type of team.

I think Shanny needs to do what Shanny does best and coach the football team. He can be involved in acquisitions and such but should not take the lead on it.

What about the D.C.? Is Slowik the answer? Were our defensive problems this year talent related, scheme related, or a little of both? And what needs to be realistically done? Ideally, I’d love us to get Spagnola (sp) some how – I love the defense he coaches but that’s not realistic.

Shanahan had proved that he has a mind for offense. We saw that when he brought in all the offensive weapons we have on this team. However, he isn’t a defensive coach. We need to get a Shanny type coach for defense and someone better at evaluating talent. Like nick says above, I don’t think he should take the lead on who comes and goes.

and I don’t post here often, so I don’t expect people to take me entirely seriously. That being said…

I think any talk of getting rid of Shanahan at this point is knee-jerk reaction from people who had unrealistic expectations for the team this season. In my mind, what we should all do is take a step back, look at how truly bad the defense was, and try to see what we’ve learned.

Truth # 1: Accept the fact that this team needed to score 40 points a game to win.

Honestly, let’s just get that out of the way right now. This team couldn’t play a lick of defense for the most part, and when one third of your team consistently fails, you aren’t a playoff team. Considering how terrible the defense was, I’m happy to have 8 wins.

Truth #2: Yes, we collapsed at the end but it’s for the best.

We ended up with the 12th pick in the draft! It worked out for us pretty well last year, and now that we have a dynamite offense that teams will fear in the future (especially with a return of the running game), it’s time to spend those draft picks on defense. This was not a team worthy of being in the playoffs and we weren’t going to make any noise if we got in. Besides, with the Chargers winning that game, the karma from Week 2 has already been cashed in and we’re on even ground. Let’s just accept what has happened, and move on to a still-bright future.

Truth #3: A hell of a lot of good came from this season.

This team rallied around Cutler and believes in him. He will continue to develop and next season I’m expecting him to take another step in his quest to firmly entrench himself in the Top 5 QBs in the league. Eddie Royal was a great find and our receiving corps (TE included) is very skilled in both the passing and running game. The offensive line was fantastic and should continue to improve with more time. Prater, despite fading a bit at the end of the year, was overall a pretty good find. The coverage units weren’t great, but still better than previous years. This is a direct result in an overall upgrade in talent on the roster.

Truth #4: Shanahan has changed his philosophy as the game has evolved.

This was another step in the process of building a long-term winner. The pieces are in place for one side of the ball to be a Top 5 unit for the next 3-5 years at least and the defense should at least take steps towards being middle of the pack next season. Let Shanny take his plethora of picks and dedicate them to the draft. If the past couple of drafts don’t instill any faith in you as a fan, then you aren’t paying attention. Following the 2005 AFC Championship Game loss, the Broncos had an organizational shift in philosophy and the direct result of this has been improved off-seasons focused around building within more than bringing in big-time free agents. Shanny was stubborn for a while, but has since realized the best way to build is now from using the draft as his main resource. This change is still in its relative infancy, but the early returns have been extremely positive.

In closing, I’d like to point out that I, too, am disappointed in the way this season ended, but for people to be grabbing pitchforks and circling the wagons the way they are is ridiculous. Calm down, breathe, take a step back, and enjoy the off-season. While the season ended with a bitter taste in our mouths, the future is still tantalizing and we can’t lose focus of that.