Broncos' HC Vic Fangio Sounds Off on OC Pat Shurmur's Lack of 'Results'
The Denver Broncos are reeling on the heels of two straight losses. The back-to-back disappointments become all the more bitter after the team's 3-0 start.
Sitting at 3-2 now, the Broncos are rapidly watching their hard-earned cushion erode beneath their feet. In order to stanch the bleeding, Vic Fangio and his coaching staff will have to adapt.
It's either that, or die — or so goes Darwin's evolutionary philosophy.
Fangio's not ready to curl up and go quietly into that good night. However, if the Broncos are going to turn this ship around, the offense is going to have to do better than the 5-of-26 conversions on third down it's totaled over the past two games.
Obviously, moving the chains on just 19% of third-down tries is a recipe for catastrophic failure. As a head coach who has admitted during training camp that he doesn't really watch the offense practice, it's fair to wonder how much command Fangio has on that side of the ball.
Offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur was a Fangio hire — ushered in on the heels of 2019 coordinator Rich Scangarello being shown the door. However, this is the second straight week that Shurmur has been under fierce criticism from fans and media alike.
If Fangio doesn't step in now and take ownership of the Broncos' listing offense, it could sink the team's 2021 destiny and his job security in Denver. ln a silver-lining development, Fangio revealed on Monday that he's already met with Shurmur and in so doing, the head coach tendered his evaluation of his top offensive assistant.
“I've been involved. We already met this morning—myself with the offensive staff," Fangio said from UCHealth Training Center. "We all just have to do a better job. We have to do a better job of coaching these players, and we have to do a better job of playing. We're all in it together."
All for one and one for all, amirite? Setting aside Fangio's D'Artagnan disposition, what about Shurmur? Suffice to say, Fangio isn't satisfied with the veteran coach's body of work thus far.
"I have no qualms with Pat other than our results haven't been good enough," Fangio said. "We have to find a way to fix that.”
It's shaping up to be a 'it's not you, it's me' parting of the ways with Shurmur if the Broncos don't quickly turn things around. That's the way she goes when a coaching staff makes a controversial decision to bench a highly-drafted quarterback the team sacrificed and suffered for to develop — in favor of a stop-gap veteran.
For all of his leadership charm, Teddy Bridgewater has come up small against bigger opponents. Meanwhile, despite the blood, sweat, tears, and losing seasons the Broncos put into Drew Lock, the third-year quarterback languishes on the sideline. And now, Fangio has to at least be entertaining the possibility that his coaching staff is losing the locker room.
“Any time it's not going the way you'd like it to go, everybody's confidence level can be threatened," Fangio said. "We can't let that happen. We've got to go execute the play to the best of our ability and make them work.”
If this season plays out like Fangio's previous two campaigns, the Broncos will always wonder what could have been with Lock if they'd just stuck it out one last time. Instead, Fangio sanctioned a changing of the guard under center — a bold move and one that was likely heavily influenced by Shurmur.
That fateful decision will come with significantly heightened blowback if it doesn't pay off. And right now, the returns on Teddy-the-starter are diminishing by the second after an encouraging start.
The Broncos could have lost to the Steelers with Lock. Or maybe Lock could have beaten them. Either way, if Lock was on the field, at least the team would know once and for all what it had in the former No. 42 overall pick in the 2019 NFL draft.
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