Something is amiss. Former Broncos coach Mike Shanahan returns to Denver on Sunday as the Redskins head coach, and the Denver media and Broncos fans are indifferent about his return.
It’s the complete opposite of how emotional Colts fans were when Peyton Manning made his return to Indianapolis last Sunday. That is wrong.
This isn’t Josh McDaniels coming to town as coach. This isn’t Wade Phillips making his return. This is about a head coach that made the Broncos relevant again by winning two Super Bowl championships. For all intents and purposes, Shanahan is the best coach the Broncos ever had. He deserves respect.
It’s funny revisionist historians talk about Shanahan winning two championships because of John Elway. Guess what? Elway won nothing before the former Broncos head coach took the job as head coach. If anything, he got the Hall of Fame quarterback two championships by giving him a running back he can trust in drafting Terrell Davis. He was able to get his star quarterback to play in a disciplined manner rather than being a gunslinger.
If the Redskins head coach was not coaching the Broncos in the mid-90s, we would likely still be talking about the search of a championship with this franchise.
Go ahead and rip Shanahan for being a lousy general manager. That’s why the Broncos had 10 years of championship futility with him once Elway retired. He never found the right quarterback replacement. He never built a great defense. He fired defensive coordinators often. He brought guys that had no character. That’s why he deserved to be fired.
It would have been nice if Shanahan decided to only coach and work with a new general manager, but that was never going to work. New general managers like to hire their own guy, and odds are good he and the new general manager would differ on philosophies and players. It made sense for him to be fired rather than create a horrible working relationship.
The two-time Super Bowl champion head coach should have a hero’s welcome on Sunday for his work in the organization. Maybe the Broncos will be nice enough to honor him on the Jumbotron before the game. One would think that would happen. It can’t be too much to ask, right?
It’s easy to wonder if that’s going to happen. Most Broncos fans want to talk about Shanahan’s final years as Broncos coach and general manager rather than focusing on the positives. Several media members have gone out of their way to mock him for being beige and untrustworthy. Elway didn’t go out of his way to wax poetic on his former coach and friend this week
Shanahan brought this on himself. There was no excuse for him being condescending when he is being second-guessed by media members. He should have held himself accountable for some of his coaching and personnel decisions. Maybe if he came off as a human being, he would be perceived better by fans and the media.
But that’s not him. Most head coaches are not wired that way. There are not many Rex Ryans out there when it comes to dealing with the media. Most head coaches are tight-lipped. That’s why it’s easy not to watch any press conferences with head coaches.
It’s strange to see head coaches not give anything away in press conferences, but whatever. At the end of the day, it’s about wins and losses when it comes to fans. Patriots fans tolerate Bill Belichick acting like a sourpuss since he wins. Broncos fans tolerated Shanahan when he was winning championships, but once he stopped, he was criticized.
It’s unfortunate Broncos fans remember the Redskins head coach for what went wrong than what went right, but that’s how fans view sports in general. They remember failures in the end than positives in the beginning.
Shanahan didn’t have much to say about his return to Denver. He is busy getting his team back on track with the Redskins being 2-4 in the NFC East.
Still, he is human. He can’t say this is not bothering him that there has been indifference about his homecoming. Not when he put his heart and soul into his job as the Broncos coach. He can only hope that he gets a standing ovation before the game starts.
It’s on the Broncos to get people to cheer on Shanahan this Sunday with a nice tribute. It’s the least they can do for what he has done for them.
As for Shanahan’s critics, let’s hope they appreciate what he did for the Broncos one day once they start focusing on ripping John Fox.
Related Posts From Lightning Rod Sports
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.