John Elway has been the head man pulling most levers for the Broncos since his arrival to his front-office spot in 2011 and for the most part, the right levers.

He’s built a Super Bowl winner, recruited some of the biggest names in the sport to the team and overall flaunts an incredibly successful resume and the praise has followed. But now, times have quickly changed.

Back to back seasons under .500 for the first time since 1972 with no bright beacon at quarterback to latch on to, Denver is faced with a full-on rebuild and it’ll have to be John’s finest hour to get it done.

On the latest Broncos Blitz podcast, host Ronnie Kohrt breaks down the challenges that lie ahead for Elway. Certainly another power above now factors into the mix after Woody Paige’s December 17th report revealed CEO Joe Ellis as the nixer in a potential Mike Shanahan return, replacing Vance Joseph just last year.

But even with business dabbling into football operations, the issues of talent evaluation remain on Elway’s plate. His track record of selecting quarterbacks is not good (See Osweiler-Lynch-Keenum) and now Denver needs a franchise arm more than ever.

The hurdles are large and the resources aren’t plentiful. There are glaring spots on the team needing help. Denver needs a new head coach, plenty of talented players will be up for new contracts and it’s all thrown into an echo chamber, mixed with an unstable ownership situation that is growing fans weary. There is no Peyton Manning safety parachute to deploy. It’s time to get to work.

Elway deserves a shot to fix the problems he’s created, but this will need to be Elway’s finest hour in rebuilding the Broncos from their worst streak of back-to-back seasons since the early 1970’s. Elway has encountered big moments in his lifetime, delivering on “The Drive” and back-to-back Super Bowls in the late-1990’s as player, as well as bringing Manning to Denver and two Super Bowl appearances in this decade.

Now Elway must deliver a rebuild of epic proportions to a team that has never been in this situation in a long time — a full on rebuild — or else the criticism will only grow louder and his time may begin to run out.

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You can follow Ronnie Kohrt on Twitter for more news regarding the Broncos by clicking here and catch up on latest conversations about the Broncos, or listen to the podcast below.

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