Broncos sack Shanahan

ENGLEWOOD - The Denver Broncos announced Tuesday they have fired longtime head coach Mike Shanahan.

The move came just two days after the Broncos completed an historic collapse, becoming the first team to lose a division after leading it by three games with only three left to play.

This season, the Broncos had an 8-8 record. They were eliminated from the playoffs Sunday night in a 52-21 defeat in San Diego that gave the Chargers the division title.

"After giving this careful consideration, I have concluded that a change in our football operations is in the best interests of the Denver Broncos," stated Broncos owner Pat Bowlen in a news release announcing the move. "This is certainly a difficult decision, but one that I feel must be made and which will ultimately be in the best interests of all concerned."

Bowlen says the move was effective immediately.

"I appreciate the 21 years that Mike Shanahan has given to the organization as an assistant and head coach, and the two Super Bowl wins in that time," stated Bowlen. "His contributions hold a special place in Broncos history."

A news conference was scheduled for Wednesday at 11 a.m.

Shanahan has been head coach of the Broncos since 1995. During his tenure with the Broncos, he led them to nine winnings seasons, including back-to-back Super Bowl titles in 1998 and 1999.

The Broncos failed to make the playoffs this season, despite a guarantee Shanahan made prior to the season that the team would make it to post-season play. It was the third-straight season the team has failed to make the playoffs.

"I'm absolutely shocked. Obviously you look at Mike Shanahan and you think, the guy's got a lifetime contract here with the Denver Broncos and there's nothing wrong with his ability to coach, he's a great coach. Obviously within this organization, I think that things have been amiss as far as personnel is concerned," said Mark Schlereth, a former guard for the Broncos and current ESPN analyst.

Broncos tight end Mike Leach says when he heard the news, he had the same reaction as everyone he's spoken with.

"Shocked, like everybody else," said Leach. "I just talked to some of the guys on the team. None of us saw this coming. Everyone's got questions and wondering what's going to happen next and of course none of us have answers yet."

Leach says with all of the injuries the Broncos endured in 2008, including seven running backs going on injured reserve, some people around the Broncos locker room believed Shanahan had a chance to be coach of the year if the team could wrap up the AFC West title.

"It's a results league, you know you need to get it done," said Leach. "And around here, there's high expectations and when you miss the playoffs a few years in a row, something's got to change, I guess."

Broncos play-by-play man Dave Logan was in the 850 KOA studio on Tuesday, fielding calls that were jamming the phone lines after the big announcement. He says when he heard the news, he was surprised, but like many callers to the radio show, he says it wasn't unexpected.

"It doesn't shock me, given how they've played down the stretch," said Logan. "And when you have two years like they did defensively and there are no apparent signs of being able to turn that around quickly or easily, then, I guess in that respect, I wasn't shocked."

"On the one hand, any time you thought of the state of the franchise it is shocking and it takes your breath away. On the other hand, I think that this team had struggled recently and there had been questions raised publicly about whether Mike was the right man to take this job," said Adam Schefter with the NFL Network. "And I think this is something that Pat Bowlen pondered recently, over the recent weeks and months and he had to figure what was out the best course for his franchise to follow from this point on and ultimately he made a decision that the Denver Broncos would be better off without Mike Shanahan than they would be with him."

Schefter also commented on a report that Shanahan was asked to fire the Broncos defensive coordinator Bob Slowik and make other changes, but refused and that prompted Shanahan's dismissal.

"That would not surprise me. Clearly, I think there's a feeling within the Broncos organization that Bob Slowik had to go and Mike Shanahan had made so many changes at the defensive coordinator position and was good friends with Bob Slowik. And if ultimately that led to his demise, that would not surprise me. But I do think it would not be made, this move, solely on the basis of that particular incident. Clearly, there were larger issues at stake," said Schefter.

"I think that Pat Bowlen probably looked at the success that Miami had, the success that Atlanta had, that the Ravens had, and said, 'You know what, we've seen them make these miraculous turn-arounds, maybe we need to do the same thing,'" said Schlereth.

Schlereth also commented on the possibility that Bowlen may have asked Shanahan to stay on as coach, but give up his control over personnel.

"To me it's almost the same as saying, 'Your freshman, your sophomore, and your junior year [of high school], you've got a curfew of midnight. Your senior year, you know we think that's too late. As parents we think it's too late, you need to come in at 9:30. There's going to be a rebellion," he said. "When you've had total and complete autonomy of an organization for as long as he has had it, then to strip him of those titles, I think that's tough."

"There aren't many coaches or teams that would have won as many games as the Broncos did with all the injuries they had this season," said Schefter.

"I had no idea," said former Broncos defensive lineman Alfred Williams. "I guess that's just the lay of the land right now in the NFL."

"Mike has been the right hand man for Mr. Bowlen since forever. To not have him in that capacity anymore is crazy for me. As a guy who's been around here and played for him and admired his work, he is a consummate professional head coach. He does all the things the right way all the time to get his team going in the right direction," said Williams, who was on the Broncos Super Bowl Championship teams.

"[I was] surprised. I thought he had it locked in for as long as he wanted to coach up there. I'm shocked," said Ephraim Salaam, a former offensive tackle for the Broncos who now plays for the Houston Texans.

"He's going to go down as one of the greatest coaches in Denver, ever. You can't discount the accomplishments he had there. It's not going to tarnish his legacy whatsoever. He just had really, really, really bad down years. He'll be remembered as one of the best coaches in Broncos history," said Salaam.

"I don't think it comes down to one game for somebody like Mike Shanahan, it's a culmination of things. You know, if they would have won that game [against San Diego] and did well in the playoffs of course, we probably wouldn't be having this conversation, but I think that one game was like the final straw. You know they had an opportunity and it just didn't look like they were ready to play," said Salaam.

Shanahan is one of only a dozen coaches who has posted 100 wins in his first decade in the National Football League.

Shanahan, 56, was 146-89, but the Broncos have had only one postseason victory since John Elway retired in 1999 after Denver's second championship.

This season, the Broncos' defense gave up 448 points, third worst in the NFL, including 112 during the three-game collapse at the end. It was ranked 29th in yards allowed and tied for last in the NFL with a minus-17 turnover margin.

In years past, Shanahan had relieved defensive coordinators - Greg Robinson, Ray Rhodes, Larry Coyer and Jim Bates - in almost revolving-door fashion.

This year, as the defense floundered, it became obvious it wasn't just a coaching problem. It was an issue of talent on the field, and in Denver, Shanahan makes all the personnel decisions.

His top two draft picks in 2007, Jarvis Moss and Tim Crowder, were barely a factor this season. Two of Denver's top veteran acquisitions from last year, Niko Koutouvides and Dewayne Robertson, also did very little.

One of the reason Tuesday's firing was so surprising is because of comments Bowlen made in 2002.

"We've got a lot of work to do in the off season to get back where I expect this franchise to be. The guy I've got the most confidence [in], that has the ability to do that is Mike Shanahan. We did it '95, we'll do it in 2002. We'll win more Super Bowls and he'll be my coach for as long as he wants to be my coach," Bowlen said in 2002.

Schefter says Shanahan now goes to the top of the list for other NFL teams looking for a new head coach.

"Any team that has an opening will be forced to look at Mike Shanahan to decide whether he is the right coach for them, then teams that have coaches in place will have to make a decision whether they think they are better off with the coach they have in place or with Mike Shanahan coaching them. He will have no shortage of coaching opportunities and it would not surprise me if within a week if that's what Mike Shanahan decided to do," said Schefter.

"He's not going to be out of work for two days," said Schlereth. "I believe that if Mike Shanahan goes somewhere and can get back to focusing on what he does best, and that's coach, because he really is a great coach, and take all that periphery stuff away from him, there's a guy that will excel again in this league."

Schefter says Shanahan taking another job would actually help the Broncos because there are still three years worth about $20 million left on his contract.

"It's going to be difficult [for the Broncos] to shell out top dollars for a top coaching candidate. If Mike gets a job it frees up cash for the Broncos to go spend whatever they want on a new head coach," he said.

"In a lot of ways, when you thought about the Broncos, since John [Elway]'s been gone for a while now, you thought of Coach Shanahan and now it's a new chapter. And where it's going to go, I'm sure it'll be positive, but it's just a big question mark right now," said Leach.