Mike Kliss: Vic Fangio will not be fired after the season

[mojo0730]

Mike Kliss was on at the end of the Stokley and Zach Show yesterday on 104.3 The Fan (check out the link below). It was mostly a conversation about the quarterback debacle that happened on Sunday but Kliss was asked about Vic Fangio's job security if the Broncos were to lose out or otherwise finish with a worse record than last season. While Kliss stated he didn't want to get into hypothetical situations about how bad the Broncos would have to be down the stretch for things to possibly change, he stated pretty affirmatively that Fangio will be back in 2021, mostly reinforcing the notion that the Broncos know they can't be nor do they want to be known as a franchise that hires a new head coach every 2 years. He also stated those within the organization really like Fangio and still believe he's the right person to lead the players.

I have mixed feelings on this. I like Fangio because he seems like a tough-as-nails, old school-type coach. I wasn't thrilled about the hire initially but I definitely like his personality and the team does play hard for him. I also feel you can't have the same people who hired Fangio (i.e. Elway and Ellis) also fire him as well as hire a new coach. And yes, this team needs some semblance of continuity that they've sorely lacked over the last 4 years.

Having said that, this team is so bad and I think the rest of the teams in the division are on the rise. I just don't feel Fangio is savvy or creative enough to overcome that without serious help. I'm also not convinced that Fangio is anything other than a really excellent defensive coordinator.

Anyway, here's the link for those interested in listening to it and drawing their own conclusions from it. Mike Kliss is pretty much the Adam Schefter of the Broncos so I believe he's correct in his assertion:

https://1043thefan.com/category/podc...okley+and+Zach

[Broncos-R-Great]

Not many rookie head coaches in the last 20 years have survived back to back losing seasons to start their career. The only ones I can think of srr Gus Bradley and Kyle Shanahan. Bradley was fired a few games into his 4th season, after 3 losing seasons. Shanahan, of course, went to the Super Bowl last year, after starting with back to back losing seasons.

If Fangio isn’t fired at the end of the year, he’ll likely be staring next year with the hottest seat in the NFL.

[GMTD]

We need a more modern, flexible, dynamic and innovative offensive minded HC. Give Fangio the DC job if he wants it.

It's not the 70s and 80s anymore. 20 points will not win many games.

[Mosk]

We need a more modern, flexible, dynamic and innovative offensive minded HC. Give Fangio the DC job if he wants it.

It's not the 70s and 80s anymore. 20 points will not win many games.

Would you put the blame on the young offensive core not playing up to the hype, and lack of an innovative and creative play calling on Fangio? The only reason we’re in most games is because of the defense Vic has installed. The defense performs so much better under Vic than Vance. The offense hasn’t been good since 2014. Vic trusted that Shurmur would install a good offense, not a bad and boring one.

[mojo0730]

Not many rookie head coaches in the last 20 years have survived back to back losing seasons to start their career. The only ones I can think of srr Gus Bradley and Kyle Shanahan. Bradley was fired a few games into his 4th season, after 3 losing seasons. Shanahan, of course, went to the Super Bowl last year, after starting with back to back losing seasons.

If Fangio isn’t fired at the end of the year, he’ll likely be staring next year with the hottest seat in the NFL.

I have a hard time accepting that if the Broncos go 4-12 or 5-11, Fangio will be back regardless, especially given that the issues we saw last year were just as prominent if not more so than this year. Yes, I get the pandemic and the lack of offseason. I'm definitely giving him the benefit of the doubt with those things. But there are just things I'm seeing form game-to-game in terms of management and game planning that are really concerning. Also, Fangio deserves substantial blame for the offensive woes this season since he was the one that didn't want to make it work with Scangarello and went with Shurmur instead. And I think you have to look at Lock's substantial regression this season as a reflection of bad coaching. But it's also Elway's final year and supposedly the trust's, provided the court cases are resolved by then, so I understand the mentality of not wanting to make another substantial change in a lame duck season.

So we'll see. If Fangio does return I suspect we won't see any substantial improvement with this team in 2021 and Fangio will probably be out along with Elway & the Trust. But stranger things have happened.

[Bronco51]

I have a hard time accepting that if the Broncos go 4-12 or 5-11, Fangio will be back regardless, especially given that the issues we saw last year were just as prominent if not more so than this year. Yes, I get the pandemic and the lack of offseason. I'm definitely giving him the benefit of the doubt with those things. But there are just things I'm seeing form game-to-game in terms of management and game planning that are really concerning. Also, Fangio deserves substantial blame for the offensive woes this season since he was the one that didn't want to make it work with Scangarello and went with Shurmur instead. And I think you have to look at Lock's substantial regression this season as a reflection of bad coaching. But it's also Elway's final year and supposedly the trust's, provided the court cases are resolved by then, so I understand the mentality of not wanting to make another substantial change in a lame duck season.

So we'll see. If Fangio does return I suspect we won't see any substantial improvement with this team in 2021 and Fangio will probably be out along with Elway & the Trust. But stranger things have happened.

Agreed. I think he will be a lame duck if he's back next year. I doubt they can go and get competitive thru free agency in the off season. And, we still aren't sure if we have the QB of the future and are debatably the worst at that position in our division.

[samparnell]

We need a more modern, flexible, dynamic and innovative offensive minded HC. Give Fangio the DC job if he wants it.

It's not the 70s and 80s anymore. 20 points will not win many games.

Any chance you could break that down into football terms?

[-Rod-]

It does not make sense for Elway to hire a new HC when he's entering the last year of his contract as GM. As far as I know, there aren't any news about a new deal for Elway.

[Megalodon30]

Good. He shouldn’t be.

[Capt. Jack]

He's a good solid coach. Got to give him another year.

[flosstein]

It is what it is. Personally I’m not a Fangio fan. I don’t think his defensive scheme is good. And his leadership is questionable at best. His game management is sub-average. I think he was supposed to be “John Fox 2.0”, but that’s not panning out to well. I think dumping Scags for Shurmer was a terrible idea. I just don’t see this team growing under him. It’s either the same garbage of the past few seasons, or worse.

[Butler By'Note]

It is what it is. Personally I’m not a Fangio fan. I don’t think his defensive scheme is good. And his leadership is questionable at best. His game management is sub-average. I think he was supposed to be “John Fox 2.0”, but that’s not panning out to well. I think dumping Scags for Shurmer was a terrible idea. I just don’t see this team growing under him. It’s either the same garbage of the past few seasons, or worse.

Scangarello was an awful OC. Fundamentally bad on several levels that he wasn't going to get better from as an OC. He needed a step back and to go learn from someone. Whether Shurmur was the right choice is a fair debate, but keeping Scangarello would have been a recipe to the OC being fired halfway through the season. He was in way over his head.

[Kyousukeneko]

works for me, i don't think Elway should be in charge of our next search for a HC

[Butler By'Note]

Lost in all of the complaints about the offensive scheme and play calling is that NO offense is going to be good if the QB is playing poorly. With how far Lock has regressed this year, just in small things, it wouldn't matter if he was playing for the KC Chefs right now, with their personnel and Andy Reid calling the plays, the offense would be pedestrian at best. Until Lock can go through his progressions quickly and calmly, process the information quickly and get the ball out to the right player on time, the offense will be going nowhere, regardless of who the OC is.

Lock needs to take a big step forward this offseason, and a big part of that would be by having the same system and coaches in place to continue to work with him. Spending his offseason working on mechanics with his private QB coach will be meaningful and then him getting back into OTAs already knowing the playbook and being able to just work on those mechanics without needing to think about the offense then it gives him more meaningful reps there.

[mojo0730]

Lost in all of the complaints about the offensive scheme and play calling is that NO offense is going to be good if the QB is playing poorly. With how far Lock has regressed this year, just in small things, it wouldn't matter if he was playing for the KC Chefs right now, with their personnel and Andy Reid calling the plays, the offense would be pedestrian at best. Until Lock can go through his progressions quickly and calmly, process the information quickly and get the ball out to the right player on time, the offense will be going nowhere, regardless of who the OC is.

Lock needs to take a big step forward this offseason, and a big part of that would be by having the same system and coaches in place to continue to work with him. Spending his offseason working on mechanics with his private QB coach will be meaningful and then him getting back into OTAs already knowing the playbook and being able to just work on those mechanics without needing to think about the offense then it gives him more meaningful reps there.

To be fair Lock was playing well under Scangarello. We could argue the reasons why but he looked way more comfortable and confident with Scangarello versus Shurmur.