King: 'Extremely Surprising' if Broncos Don't Fire Hackett at Season's End
At this juncture, with the 3-8 Denver Broncos officially scraping rock bottom, it's become a matter of when — not if — that in-over-his-head coach Nathaniel Hackett is held to account for the historic disappointment.
The "when" could have come as early as Monday, after Denver dropped its third straight game: a 23-10 noncompetitive loss to the four-win Carolina Panthers in which the players (one of whom shouted down the team's $250 million quarterback) appeared to quit on Hackett.
But it didn't.
Instead, per venerable NFL insider Peter King, the Broncos are expected to run out the clock, waiting until the conclusion of Hackett's rookie campaign before axing the former Packers assistant.
"I think I will not be surprised if Nathaniel Hackett makes it to the end of this season as Denver coach," King wrote in his latest column for NBC Sports. "But I will be extremely surprised if he isn’t one-and-done."
Hackett, 43 (in December), is the craftsman of a stunningly toothless offense that, despite the addition of Russell Wilson, averages a league-worst 14.3 points per game — the worst the sport has seen in more than two decades. The unit tallied just 125 passing yards in Carolina and failed to register a third-quarter point for the eighth time this season.
"It's unacceptable. Bottom line," remarked Wilson.
With new ownership judging accordingly — ownership that bears no loyalty or emotional investment — the writing on the wall suggests Hackett is a dead coach walking. He halfway-fired himself by surrendering playcalling duties prior to Week 11, and soon the Walton-Penner Group (and perhaps general manager George Paton, who handpicked Hackett), likely finish off the pinkslip.
Until then ...
"I just want to find a way to win a football game," Hackett said Sunday. "That’s so important to me. These coaches, these players, they work so hard and I just want to be there for them to be able to try to make it so we can be successful on the field."
Follow Zack on Twitter @KelbermanNFL
Follow Mile High Huddle on Twitter and Facebook.
Subscribe to Mile High Huddle on YouTube for daily Broncos live-stream podcasts!
