Mike Shanahan: Off With His Head!

Every team in the NFL exists for one reason and one reason alone. It is their goal, their job, their duty to reach and win the NFL’s championship game; the Super Bowl – we’ll pretend there are no teams like the Bears whose ownership and management have either forgotten this or just don’t give a damn about it.The primary problem is that while your team desperately wants to accomplish this task, so do all of the other 31 NFL teams. Even if you have a talented team and a talented organization, there are lots and lots of other talented people around the league all trying to reach the same goal.

Fans and media types alike seem to forget how hard it is for any team to win the SB. They don’t even always seem to understand how hard it is just to get there, or even to a Conference Championship. For that matter even into the playoffs.

They also fail to understand that a team that stays at or near the top is, in general, in a better position to do that than a team that is less stable, or one that spends most of its time in the basement.

For instance, all Dennis Green did with the Vikings was win. He reached the playoffs almost every year that he was the Vikings head coach. And he got booted for that. Ditto with Marty in KC and Tony Dungy in Tampa.

This year we have fans and media chanting “Off with their heads.” for coaches like Dave Wannsdtedt in Miami and Mike Shanahan in Denver.
Miami seems to have a reactionary front office and ownership. So Wanny will probably be gone if he doesn’t at least reach the AFC Championship game (read: Wanny will be gone).

Denver’s owner, Pat Bowlen, seems to be very level-headed on this matter. So regardless of how fans and media types whine that Denver hasn’t won a SB without Elway, Shanny should have a job as long as he keeps Denver in the hunt more often than not.

He’s not much of a motivator, but he’s a premium X’s and O’s guy, and he’s crazy slick working the cap.

As I just mentioned, an often cited Shanahan “problem” is that he hasn’t been able to win in the post season without Elway and Davis. But he did at least reach the playoffs twice in the five years immediately following Elway’s retirement.

Michael Irvin Retired from the Cowpatties after the 1999 season. Aikman retired in 2001. Emmit should have retired with Irvin. How well have the Cowpatties done since their superstar line up started falling apart? I’ll tell you; one winning season and one playoff appearance (and they got hammered by the Panthers it that one). They fell a lot further a lot faster than Denver has.

Or let’s flip it around and ask, how many teams have lost future Hall of Fame QBs (not to mention a possible HoF RB at the same time) and had significant success immediately afterward? Very few.

Many also smack Mike Shanahan down for making some questionable personnel moves. Anyone being honest would have to say there’s some truth to this gripe. But, he’s made some killer choices, too.

Sure he signed head cases like Daryl Gardener and Dale Carter. But, he also signed Alfred Williams, Michael Dean Perry and Neil Smith. Perry was kept in Denver a year too long, but he and Williams helped turn Denver’s run defense around. And Smith was a big contributor in Denver’s back to back SB winning seasons.

Who was Denver’s primary running back when Shanny arrived? Most of you don’t remember. It was Rod Bernstein. Since Shanahan came on the scene in Denver they’ve had two superstar running backs (Davis and Portis) and two more guys who performed well above their natural talents for the position (Anderson and Gary).

Before that, Denver fans were actually happy to have guys like Gaston Green, Sammy Winder and Bobby Humphrey in the backfield.

Denver’s WR corps was always shaky at best. Shanahan made it one of the most successful and talented in the league.

Mike Shanahan has made his share of draft screw ups, too. But, he’s also drafted his share of superstars; Terrell Davis, Al Wilson, John Mobley, Trevor Pryce and Clinton Portis. He also picked up Rod Smith as an undrafted FA. Then there are the above average players he’s drafted, like Ian Gold, Dan Neil and Matt Lepsis.

Shanahan’s job is safe, because he has done and continues to do an above average job, overall. Fans and media weenies need to sit back, calm down and chug themselves a heavy dose of reality.

Some will still feel that Shanahan needs to go, that his shortcomings outweigh his successes. Ok, fair enough. But even if you feel that is the case, tell me, what high quality coaching talent is available to replace him?