Lets gun it to 88 MPH in Doc Brown’s DeLorean and go to the year 2037. Matt Damon has endorsed Ben Affleck’s presidential campaign. Paxton Lynch has just announced his retirement from football at 42 years old. John Elway will still be able to throw 80 mph at 76 years of age and Vance Joseph will be holding another press conference at 64 years old. Broncos fans are clamoring for the old horse logo (that is, the current one) to make a return. The Las Vegas Raiders are on the clock with the first pick of the 2037 NFL Draft and Los Angeles has five NFL teams.
In 20 years the Denver Broncos will look and feel vastly different than they have the past two seasons, and in 20 years we will look back at this moment as the reason why. This is the moment where changes were made and a new direction was taken.
One way or another, whatever the story you want to tell, Gary Kubiak left. Whether it was his health, having to make hard decisions with his coaching staff, or a power struggle over who to play, Gary Kubiak decided it wasn’t worth it anymore. The grind of coaching was too much; it was time for him to take time for him. Kubiak was at a point in his career where he didn’t have to put up with anything he didn’t have to or want to. He was at the point where if it wasn’t what he wanted to do, he didn’t have to do it. He earned that, and good for him. I, too, wish someday to be in a position where if things didn’t go the way I see fit I can just walk out and be all the better for it.
Kubes and his staff spent two years in Denver. They won a Super Bowl and had an overall record of 24-11. It was an amazing run, but for one reason or another, Kubiak and his crew are no longer coaches in Broncos Country.
In 2015 the band was put back together and a reunion tour set: Gary Kubiak, Rick Dennison, Greg Knapp, and Wade Phillips, plus Joe D, and the others. A legendary group of “friends in football” with the biggest of Denver ties and of course the relationship to John Elway. Turn off the lights, cause that party is over.
What that group of coaches and friends did was nothing short of spectacular and it will not be forgotten. All future coaches will be weighed and measured by what they accomplished and we will look back on that group with elegance and awe. History will forget the frustration with 9-7 and only consider it a winning season under tough circumstances. History will look fondly on Gary Kubiak as a Bronco, and in doing so it will only raise the stakes. No excuses will be allowed.
Coach couldn’t win because of injuries?
“Doesn’t matter, Gary Kubiak lost a Hall of Fame QB for six-and-a-half games and they still won it all in 2015!”
Can’t win it all your first year as Broncos Head Coach?
“Gary and his guys did all that and had to face Roethlisberger, Brady, and Cam Newton.”
We can’t win with a rookie QB.
“Gary Kubiak had two QBs with zero experience in 2016 and they went 9-7.”
Needless to say future Broncos coaches have a tough act to follow.
So Kubes and crew are now gone for one or 50 reasons and in steps Vance Joseph, Mike McCoy, Bill Musgrave, and Joe Woods. “The Band” has now been replaced by “The Coaching Dream Team” or, as others have put it, “The Coaching All-Stars.” Regardless of what you want to call this group of fellas, they do know football and have years of experience. But are they better than the last group of coaches? Can they replicate the success of the previous staff? Only a trip in a time machine will tell.
Drastic moves such as firing staff or releasing contracts are usually made when something has gone wrong – when things are muddled, amiss. (See the Browns every three years or so.) None of these words can describe Gary Kubiak’s tenure with the Denver Broncos. Only words such as achievement, accomplishment, triumph and winner are appropriate. Those are not words that cause you to make changes; those are words you use to describe success. Those are words any NFL team would want associated with its coaching staff.
So why change the whole staff?
Part of professional sports and business is to see the trends and predict. A price of a stock, a trend in consumer buying, a team’s future in terms of winning and losing. In some way, shape or I-formation, we all have to look into the future. The vice president of football operations and other managing heads of the Denver Broncos are no different. They are trying to see a trend and respond to it. They are fortune telling. John Elway and Joe Ellis and everyone else in that room predicted that a change needed to be made. They saw the trends and decided that a new direction needed to be taken. Thus, a new era began in Broncos Country. The Denver Broncos are predicting that the two roads diverged with Joe Woods will make all the difference.
So as I jump back into the DeLorean and head for 2017 I know that we will all look back at this moment in time in Broncos history and certainly say that this is where it all changed. I will not spoil it for you and tell you what the results are, but know if all of this change was for the good of Broncos Country….. or for the bad….. I will have been right!
