Goodbye Mike Shanahan

Mike Shanahan's first season as the Denver Broncos head coach was 1995.  I was sixteen when that season started.  I remember Dan Reeves and the three lost super bowls.  I remember Wade Phillips and his two seasons.  But Shanahan, he has coached my boys nearly half of my life.  His teams are the ones I really learned about football from.  I recall watching games as a youngster. Dan Reeves in his long coat, Pat Bowlen visiting the sideline wearing his full length fur coat.  I loved watching the games but I was following the basics.  I guess I became a bigger fan every year, a bigger fan of the game of football and of my favorite team.  I was lucky that my understanding of the game matured during the Shanahan years.  

Man there were some good ones.  Two really good ones.  Superbowl XXXII and XXXIII. However, after those seasons things changed. Goodbye John Elway.  Time for Shanahan to really show what type of coach (and gm) he is.  I still believe that the Broncos would have nailed the three peat if Shanahan would only have gone with Bubby Brister as the starter. Brister had some outstanding games during their second superbowl run.  But we can talk about that theory over some beers this is about me and Shanahan.  Instead of giving old Bubby a shot he went with Brian Griese.  He had some decent games but I never really like the kid.  I was very excited when the Broncos announced the acquisition of Jake Plummer.  They even made it to and AFC championship with him.  I was very surprized when the Broncos drafted Jay Cutler. The season they went to the AFC championship had my hopes and expectations for next season heading in a quite positive direction.  I knew that Plummer must have been confused.  I also knew that Plummer needed confidence to perform, and the arrival of Cutler must have totally blasted his confidence. 

 

Since the arrival of Cutler Shanahan has built one hell of an offense.  What lead to his down fall is that he built one god awful stinker of a defense.  What saddens me most about the loss of Shanahan is that I was sure he would continue to coach the Broncos.  I figured his status controlling nearly all player management would change, that is why I was shocked to hear about his dismisal.  Who they will hire next I have no idea.  I have seen many names thrown around but I have not thought about it that much.  It will be incredibly strange catching those first few games and seeing a new face as head coach.  It will probably be strange for a lot of games actually.  Thank you Mike Shanahan for guiding my Broncos to two superbowl wins and thank you for teaching me about football.