Is Mike Shanahan the right coach for the Denver Broncos?

 It has been 10 years since the John Elway-Mike Shanahan led Broncos won the Super Bowl and the heat is starting to get a lot hotter on the man they call "The Mastermind". How hot is the heat? Well let’s just say it is a lot hotter than it was a few years ago.

After two very disappointing seasons, especially last year, Shanahan knows he has to put a much better product onto the field or else fans and media are going to be clamoring for his job. The real issue is whether Pat Bowlen is really going to hold Shanahan accountable for the Bronco woes the past few seasons.

In the 10 years since the Broncos won the Super Bowl they have won one playoff game. That came three years ago against the New England Patriots. Before that they were blown out badly by the Baltimore Ravens and twice by the Colts. Since the win against the Patriots they have been fairly awful.

The Jake Plummer experiment, like so many others Shanahan has tried, did not work out. Last year they seemed to be a team that certainly had a good shot at the playoffs but a horrible defense coupled with an incredible amount of injuries ruined their season. You cannot blame the injuries on Mike Shanahan but the defensive woes are partially his fault.

He had a popular, if not really good, defensive coordinator in Larry Coyer two years ago and fired him. He brought in Jim Bates to change things up and that is certainly what he got, but they were all changes for the bad. It was fairly obvious from the beginning last year that the Bates system was not working well for the Broncos. The experiment with D.J. Williams at middle linebacker was a disaster.

Trying to get more beef up front took away from the natural aggressiveness of so many of the Bronco defenders, including Champ Bailey. Shanahan had to know early on that this defensive experiment was doomed to fail; heck, it was obvious to casual Bronco fans.

Shanahan deserves a lot of the blame for the defensive problems. He hired Jim Bates. He signed the new defensive players. The buck stops with Shanahan.

As for the offense. Well it is hard to blame Shanahan for the offensive problems because of the injuries, and the fact that it was Jay Cutler’s first full season as a starter. But one thing that became apparent is that "The Mastermind" lost his nerve during much of the season when it came to play calling. The Broncos were so conservative at times it was EASY for Bronco fans to know whether the play was going to be a run or pass, and to what side or part of the field the play was designed to go to!

So all of this leads to this question: Has the Shanahan message worn thin? Do the players still respond to him? Does Shanahan have too much power? Why the heck does Pat Bowlen seem to think that the only guy that can coach the Broncos is Mike Shanahan. We cannot answer the Bowlen situation but we have some good ideas on the other three questions.

After a coach has been in one place for a long time the message does get old. The message and tactics don’t have the same effect. But that might not be an issue here because most of the Broncos are young and have not heard the same message for eight to 10 years.

Do the players respond to Shanahan? That is really hard to say. Some do…some probably don’t. Do enough of the players respond to his coaching? Probably. And if the Broncos can get off to a good start then even more players will respond. Winning seems to make a lot of issues go away.

Does Shanahan have too much power? YES. YES. YES. He has way to much power. With Mike Shanahan it seems it is always someone else’s fault. The defensive coordinator. The players. The general manager. The offensive coordinator. Everyone gets demoted or gets pushed out the door, but the only guy that remains is Shanahan himself.

The Broncos, as of now, are flying under the radar. They do have a chance to be a good solid team that could make the playoffs if they stay healthy, and some of their young players step up and do a good job. No one is saying the Broncos should challenge the Colts, Patriots, or Chargers. Heck, it would be nice if the Broncos could actually score a touchdown against the Chargers!

But if this team goes 7-9, or worse again, doesn’t Shanahan have to go? If they go 8-8 does he have to go? If the Broncos cannot even win eight games with the talent they have…Shanahan needs to go. He has had plenty of time to get this team straightened out. He wants to cook the meals and he has been afforded the opportunity to buy all the groceries…he has NO MORE EXCUSES!

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