Man, it must be hard being a head coach. Many Broncos fans are anticipating a return to form in 2022. A shiny new quarterback and a brand new coaching staff are reasons for hope this upcoming season. While I would love for this to be the case, it may take a second for our Broncos to figure things out.
Now, I don’t say this out of a lack of belief in this Broncos team and coaching staff. I say it out of historically shaky starts under new head coaches and/or quarterbacks in Denver. So before we put the euphoria into high gear, let’s look back at some examples and use them to determine how the Broncos might do this year.
1981-83 Broncos: Coach Dan Reeves
The 10-6 record in 1981 may say “Nothing went entirely wrong! We had a good season!” But…there is more under the surface than that. The Broncos were undefeated at home. They had six losses on the road that year, including a fatal loss to the Bears in week seventeen that not only lost them the division, but their wild card chance as well. a ten win broncos team failed to make the playoffs because they could not win away from home. 1982 was an awful season amid the player strike that year, with Denver finishing an awful 2-7. 1983 would see Denver acquire John Elway, and while there was improvement, Denver would finish 9-7, 3rd in the division, and would get absolutely sh-lacked by the Seahawks in the wild card round. The Broncos would finally get it together in ’84, and the rest there is history until…
1995 Broncos: Coach Mike Shanahan
The Broncos were coming off of a 7-9 season in Wade Phillips’ second of two seasons as Broncos head coach. While Phillips had gotten that team to the playoffs the previous season, they would immediately exit in the wild card round at a 9-7 record, and obviously a mediocre ’94 cost him his job. Enter Mike Shanahan. He had been disgraced by the Raiders as a head coach, which led to his first stint as a Broncos’ coach in 1989. He would serve as Quarterbacks coach and Offensive Coordinator before leaving for San Francisco for the same position in 1992. Upon returning to the Broncos in ’95 as head coach, it wasn’t a perfect start for Mike. 1995 saw the Broncos trade wins and losses over the entire year. Any time they got over .500, a loss would put them right back. While it was a sort of… meh season, John Elway improved in Mike Shanahan’s offense, garnering 3970 Yards, 26 touchdowns (2nd career best,) to 14 Interceptions. Elway’s ’96 was more efficient, jumping from 58% to 61% completion percentage in his second season in the Shanahan offense.
2011 & 2012 Broncos: Coach John Fox
Everyone knows about this cycle, but let’s talk about it again! 2011 was a rough start for the Broncos. Fox struggled to get anything from starting quarterback Kyle Orton. And while he struggled to get much more out of Tim Tebow, they managed to turn a 1-4 start into a 7-4 finish to BARELY make the playoffs. After becoming one of Tom Brady’s many playoff victims, Tim Tebow was traded to the New York Jets, and Peyton Manning was brought in. So, you’d think Denver would be good to go from the get go, but a 2-3 start said otherwise. Fortunately, Denver would then rattle off eleven straight wins to make the playoffs.
We do not talk about the Mile High Miracle.
In Conclusion,
If the Broncos don’t get off to a fast start this season, or even make the playoffs this season, don’t worry too hard. it’s all a part of growing pains that will be corrected in due time.
As always,
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