One team's trash is another team's treasure.
The Denver Broncos parted ways with John Fox, but after four straight division titles, it's no surprise he's on his way to interview with the Chicago Bears Wednesday.
Must Reads
Meanwhile, the Broncos have given all assistant coaches permission to explore other options. Explore they are, as defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio is reportedly close to signing with the Oakland Raiders to become their next head coach, and Adam Gase is on the verge of becoming the San Francisco 49ers' next head coach.
Here's the thing: every other fanbase seems pretty stoked with potentially hiring these ex-Broncos.
On Windy City Gridiron, our Chicago Bears site, one commenter writes, "A more seasoned version of Lovie Smith and I'm fine with that." Another chimes in, "Fox would make our players play hard and with pride again and right now that's what we need. Someone to right the ship. And at least he's a proven commodity who's gotten teams to the Super Bowl and he's definitely still motivated to keep trying."
Silver and Black Pride, our Raiders retreat, recently ran a poll asking who they'd like to see be the next Raiders head coach. Jack Del Rio was the favorite, getting more than double the votes of any other candidate.
Niners fans are a bit more reserved at Niners Nation, understandably. They just lost Jim Harbaugh, and there are reports that their well-liked defensive coordinator Vic Fangio may be out the door if Gase gets the job over him. Still, perusing their comments on any of the dozen or so updates on Gase leads me to believe many Niners fans will support or even "love" the move, as the first commenter here says. Gase wasn't the favorite as of a few weeks ago, but it sounds like he's growing on Niners Nation.
If Foxy signs with the Bears, and JDR signs his soul to Oakland, and Gase hitches his wagon to San Fran, this has to be the first time in NFL history a team will lose three coaches that all become head coaches somewhere else (I'm going out on a limb here with that "first time in NFL history" thing, but I can't remember anything close to his ever happening at all). And then, after everyone else is done sorting through the Broncos' trash/treasure, Denver will have their own head coach, defensive coordinator, and offensive coordinator to hire.
What's worse, their entire assistant coaching staff may be utterly poached by Foxy, JDR and Gase as they fight over their favorite assistants.
Good is not good enough in Denver, sure. But, as we learned with Josh McDaniels in 2009, different doesn't necessarily mean better. The next month of John Elway's job as GM could be a career-defining one.