(Rob Foldy / USA Today Sports)
The news about Broncos head coach John Fox signing a three-year extension was either met with indifference or outrage by Broncos fans. It’s clear there are questions from Broncos fans about Fox’s ability to win a championship with the Broncos after two disappointing seasons. Even John Elway wonders if his head coach is the right guy.
Fox has had a good resume as a Broncos coach. He has been in the playoffs in his three years as Broncos coach. He has had a Super Bowl appearance to show for it. Still, that is not enough. His poor coaching in divisional playoff game against the Ravens and the Broncos being blown out by the Seahawks in the Super Bowl is on him whether it’s fair or not.
Look, Fox is not a great coach. He will never be in the same class as Jim Harbaugh, John Harbaugh, Bill Belichick and Pete Carroll. Still, to say he will never win a championship with the Broncos is wrong. There are good coaches that have won a championship, and Fox can be that guy.
The Broncos coach has showed he can take a team to the Super Bowl. He did it this past season with the Broncos, and he did it as a Panthers coach. That’s important. If he can take a team to the Super Bowl often, he will eventually win one sooner or later. No one takes a team to the Super Bowl by being a bad coach.
Besides if the Broncos fired Fox now or make him finish out his contract before he gets his extension, what coach out there is better than him? If Belichick or one of the Harbaugh brothers is available for the Broncos to hire, it’s one thing to hire them since they are capable of winning a championship. To think Jack Del Rio or Adam Gase would be the guy is ridiculous. Del Rio did not fare well as a Jaguars head coach, and Gase is an unknown.
Fox has won playoff games, and that should mean something. It’s not easy winning playoff games. It takes good coaching, preparation and good fortune.
Go ahead and blame Fox for the Broncos’ divisional playoff loss to the Ravens. He coached conservatively in that game, and it was interesting why he took a knee rather than have Peyton Manning try to win the game in the end. Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco carved up the Broncos defense in that game, so it was ridiculous to give him another chance in overtime. He would admit he would coach the game differently after realizing the error of his ways.
To blame Fox for the Super Bowl loss is absurd. The entire team stunk. Peyton Manning was overwhelmed by the ferocity of the Seahawks defense, and his receivers were soft in going up against the Seahawks cornerbacks and defensive backs. The coach can only do so much. In a game like that, there’s nothing the Broncos coach could have done.
There was a school of thought about Fox not having his players be focused enough in practice during the Super Bowl week. That’s hard to believe. In a big game like this, there’s no way a coach can have the guys unprepared. What the Broncos did not see it coming was how great that Seahawks defense really is. It’s hard to prepare for that.
It wasn’t coaching that failed the Broncos in the Super Bowl. The Seahawks were much better than the Broncos. They were faster, smarter and physical.
Great offense carried the Broncos for most of the year, but there comes a time the defense had to do their part. While the defense did okay in the playoffs, they were exposed for their lack of toughness in the Super Bowl. That’s why Elway went on a $110 spending spree in the first few days of free agency to toughen up the defense by signing T.J. Ward, Aqib Talib and DeMarcus Ware.
No one wants to hear it, though. The buck always stops with the head coach and the quarterback if a team fails to win a championship. Fox knows this much as anyone. The only way he can earn the fans trust is winning a championship, and he is going to have to show he can.
Fox is the right guy for the Broncos. The players respect him, and he has gone through the playoff wars. He has the right temperament to lead with the high expectations as he demonstrated this past season. His attributes mean something to his players, and that’s important more than anything for the guys to perform.
Football players need a coach that knows what he is doing on gamedays along with leading during practice. Fox has proven he can do both. That’s the important thing of a head coach.
Has Fox proven he can win a big game? Not yet, but to put these two playoffs losses based on a small sample size is not a way to judge Fox.
Giving up on him is foolish. He has only been with the Broncos for three years. If he was coaching many playoff games for a span of six years and not won a championship, there’s a reasonable good case he can’t win one.
Fox will win one sooner or later. He’s too good of a coach not to win one. Eventually, he has to come through after having so many chances.
This coming season could be his year with all the new players he has, not to mention he still has his best offensive players.
If the players play to their capabilities, it’s hard to count Fox out when it comes to championships.
Contact or follow Leslie Monteiro at @LightRodWriter
Leslie Monteiro
Leslie is a contributor for Lightning Rod Sports. He covered high school sports in Bergen County out in North Jersey, and has written op-ed columns on sports such as Bleacher Report and NY Sports Digest.
