Shanahan fired
 

ESPN

Shanahan Out In Denver
Broncos owner Pat Bowlen on Tuesday relieved Mike Shanahan of his position as head coach and executive vice president of football operations. Said Bowlen in a statement: "After giving this careful consideration, I have concluded that a change in our football operations is in the best interests of the Denver Broncos."

Re: Shanahan fired
 

Didn't see that one coming

Re: Shanahan fired
 

Losing those last three games at the end of the season kind of sealed his fate.
I wouldn't be surprised to see the same thing happen to Gruden in Tampa...both the Bucs and Broncos choked away playoff births big time this year with total collapses at the end of the season.

Re: Shanahan fired
 

Ya, me too.

Definitely didn't see that one coming.

Re: Shanahan fired
 

I want to say I don't understand any of these firings, but it is the Cowher factor that is leading to these changes. It's not like Shanahan or Mangini lost control of the teams.

Denver would have to be the odds on favorite for Cowher right now if money is not an issue. He would have the best chance at success in Denver with Cutler, Royal, and Marshall leading the offense.

OTOH, Shanahan might be a good fit for the Jets if he decides not to take a break from coaching. He does hold a 5-2 record against Bill Belicheck.

Re: Shanahan fired
 

I really dont understand how he lasted that long. Dude has been pretty bad the last few years

Re: Shanahan fired
 

He'll be a coach somewhere in a year or two. He just won't be a gm too.

Re: Shanahan fired
 

A .500 record over a three-year span in Denver gets you fired.

A .500 record over a three-year span in Cincinnati gets you hailed as the savior of the franchise.

Re: Shanahan fired
 

And fantasy football owners around the world rejoice.

Re: Shanahan fired
 

When was the last time his teams did anything since Elway retired? 2004?Shanahan got a lot of leeway because of what he inherited and what Elway did for him. As a Raider fan I saw this coming, there was much discontent from Donk fans as the collapse occured thats a tale tale sign to the owner. It was pretty much a forgone conclusion on the Raider/AFCW boards (that I read regularly) that the loser of the SD/Denver game would get canned (maybe both Id say Norv is far from safe if they lay an egg in the playoffs). Sometimes things just get stale.

You all know more about the job Marvin Lewis has done or not done in Cincy, but I think the bigger problem is you got a guy in charge who makes present Al Davis look like the Davis of the 70s. And Brown really helps Marv like Jeff Gilloly helped Nancy Kerrigan.

Re: Shanahan fired
 

My theory on coaching changes is this: you better have better that you have in line for the job. Cowher isn't going to coach next year (according to Peter King, a proud OU alum), so who is left? My guess is that this was a power play in Denver. Shanahan was bigger than the franchise and the team wanted to get control back.

Re: Shanahan fired
 

I wonder if they'll go after Gary Kubiak.

Re: Shanahan fired
 

I'm not comfortable defending Shan because I dislike him, but...Elway retired after '98 and the team went 6-10 in '99. In the nine seasons since, they've had only one losing season, 7-9 last year. They went 11-5 in 2000, 10-6 in 2003 and 2004, and 13-3 in 2005. He was there 14 years and had two losing seasons.

I was just comparing how, despite his past success, three seasons of a composite .500 record was reason for major discontent in Denver and any other city that has a legitimate NFL franchise, whereas in Cincinnati it satisfies the owner and keeps the fans excited about next season.

Oh, no argument here on that. My comment wasn't really meant as a slam on Lewis as it was on Brown, and as it was to show pity for us Bengals fans. Marvin came in and went 8-8 a few seasons and Bengals fans were so starved for any little measure of success that there was rejoicing.

I'm derailing this thread into a Bengals thread, so I'll shut up now.

Re: Shanahan fired
 

I remember when Shanahan's job security was annually in doubt because he couldn't get the Broncos to win in the playoffs. I'm not surprised at all that a non-playoff year was the final straw.

Re: Shanahan fired
 

I don't know if I would compare Shanahan to Mangini. The Shanahan firing is shocking to me. During his entire tenure he had the Broncos relevant and won two Super Bowls. From what I heard he got in a pissing match with the Bronco's owner and the Bronco's owner won. IMO Mangini was an over rated coach that saw success based upon smoke and mirrors in his first season in NY. There is always a team in the NFL that gets on a roll and makes the playoffs that falls back down to reality the next season. The Browns were a perfect example of that this season. The Jets went all in this season and failed to make the playoffs while the Giants have turned into the dominant team in the NFL. The writing was on the wall for the Mangini when he failed to make the playoffs.