As I watched Sam Bradford, the future of my favorite NFL franchise, carve up the Denver defense for 36 points, I only had one thought on my mind, and it had nothing to do with the St. Louis Rams.
I was dumbfounded at how Josh McDaniels still has a job as a head coach.
In a year when a tiff between quarterback and coach was enough to kick the Vikings’ king to the curb and a lack of motivation forced one Cowboy to ride off into the sunset, it seems miraculous that McDaniels is still herding his Broncos.
I think I’ve seen the Pirates make fewer errors over the past two seasons than the 34-year-old coaching prodigy.
His frenzied insistence to have total control over personnel decisions and his subsequent moves have set the franchise back five years – if not more.
It started when McDaniels chose to trade away the Broncos’ gun-slinging franchise quarterback Jay Culter, monster wide receiver Brandon Marshall and powerback Peyton Hillis for two mediocre quarterbacks and a few draft picks.
It’s as though I put my sister on eBay because I wanted a sibling who would throw a football instead of play with Barbies.
Just because you didn’t pick the cards
Boy genius’s next great idea was drafting a quarterback – with below-average mechanics – in the first round because of his leadership.
Leadership – seriously? He could’ve gotten that same leadership two rounds later.
If that’s the only qualification to be an NFL draft pick then Bill Gates could have been a No. 1 overall selection.
Leadership can’t thread the needle, throw a deep bomb or scramble for a first down. Now the Broncos will have to pay first-round money to a former college quarterback who is now in positional purgatory because McDaniels wanted the leadership he hasn’t been able provide for the team.
But the saga has come to a head as the ex-Patriot offensive coordinator got caught up in his version of Spygate. Whether you believe that McDaniels never knew of his staff videotaping a 49ers’ walkthrough doesn’t matter.
His lack of oversight brought the Broncos organization a black eye as well as a hefty fine.
As McDaniels’ team fell to 3-8 and Cutler and Hillis are on pace for superb seasons, it is appropriate to raise serious questions about the McDaneils experiment.
Luckily for the third-year coach, the Broncos are already paying for two coaches next season – McDaniels and Mike Shanahan. A third contract for another new hire is the last thing management wants.
However, that fact alone shouldn’t cool the coach’s seat.
If McDaniels is as smart as everyone believes him to be, in the upcoming weeks he’ll make sure to mind his Ps and Qs instead of his Xs and Os.
