Nathaniel Hackett becomes just fourth head coach fired during first season

The Denver Broncos have made history when they fired first-time head coach Nathaniel Hackett with just two games to left in the regular season. Hackett is just the fourth head coach to be fired without lasting a single season.

Hackett’s tenure was rocky from Week 1. The team looked dysfunctional and disorganized from the very start leading the league in penalties, poor clock management, and questionable decision-making from the head coach. Changes were made, but the losing continued until that 51-14 drubbing on Sunday at the hands of the 4-10 Los Angeles Rams. That game saw players shoving each other on the sidelines and Randy Gregory even threw a punch post-game at a Rams player. In short, the wheels had finally come off this team.

At 4-11, Hackett will join Urban Meyer (2-11), Pete McCulley (1-8), and John Whelchel (3-3-1) as the only first year head coaches to be fired before their first season came to an end.

For all of the fan angst towards Russell Wilson and others, we should put the historically bad coaching hire this is in perspective and look ahead to better days for Wilson and the offense in 2023 and beyond. You can’t throw away a Hall of Fame career and not give Wilson another chance under a competent coaching staff. Hopefully it all works out and we can put this behind us, but this team has to prove it now. The losing culture is bad here and that has to be the top priority for the new head coach to correct.

As a fan, I’m just glad we’re moving forward. There are still two games left to play, but I am glad Greg Penner made the decision to move on early.