The Denver Broncos have begun the year 0-4. Will head coach Vic Fangio get fired? What are the odds more than one first-year head coach gets the ax?
The Denver Broncos have fallen victim to a pair of game-winning field goals at home already this season. The Chicago Bears got the best of them in Mile High back in Week 2. Last week saw the Jacksonville Jaguars do the same thing. This leaves first-year head coach Vic Fangio at a dreadful 0-4. Is the Broncos’ rookie head coach in a bit of trouble?
On this week’s episode of Stacking the Box, FanSided‘s Matt Verderame and Josh Hill, along with former NFL offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz, discuss if more than one first-year head coach will be out of a job at regular season’s end (48:03).
“I’m out on that. I’m not even sure one is getting fired,” said Schwartz. Verderame, however, does think that it is entirely possible more than one first-year head coach will get whacked by Black Monday. He does feel that Kliff Kingsbury of the Arizona Cardinals and Zac Taylor of the Cincinnati Bengals will survive brutal year ones because both clubs are in obvious rebuilding situations.
That being said, he feels that he Fangio and the Broncos could be one of a few teams that could fire their first-year head coach, along with Freddie Kitchens of the Cleveland Browns and Brian Flores of the Miami Dolphins.
“If they are completely off the rails, and they are well on their way to doing that out in Denver, and they go 2-14, I wouldn’t be shocked if they look at the situation and go, ‘look, we need a quarterback.’ I don’t care that they took Drew Lock in the second round. If they could take Tua or Herbert, they have to do it.”
Denver was probably not going to compete this year, but a 2-14 campaign after landing Joe Flacco as the Broncos’ new starting quarterback would be nothing short of a disaster. Drew Lock had a lot of promise coming out of Missouri but fell to the Broncos in the second round after many expected he’d be one of four first-round quarterback selections in the 2019 NFL Draft.
The Broncos need to replace Peyton Manning yesterday. Verderame might be keen on Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa or Oregon’s Justin Herbert, but Georgia’s Jake Fromm and Washington’s Jacob Eason are also interesting quarterback prospects. Given that the Broncos play in Denver, maybe going with the strong-armed Eason or Herbert would be the way to go?
Regardless, Fangio is the furthest thing from a quarterback whisperer. He specializes in getting after the quarterback, something Denver was already great at before his arrival in Englewood. But should the Broncos finish with a record of 4-12 or worse, maybe general manager John Elway pulls the plug on the Fangio experiment after one year?
Plain and simple, Denver has to start winning some ball games if Fangio wants to be around in 2020. The Broncos must understand that they are rebuilding and make smart business decisions to go along with that team-building philosophy. They can’t have one foot in the past and one in the future anymore, as it is resulting in lackluster performances in the present.
Here are a few other topics discussed on this week’s episode of Stacking the Box:
- Good Morning, Football‘s and The NFL Today‘s Nate Burleson says he hopes Jalen Ramsey “gets over it” and stays with the Jacksonville Jaguars (25:40).
- Does Dwayne Haskins save Jay Gruden’s job with the Washington Redskins (43:15)?
- The Detroit Lions are indeed a real playoff contender (44:50).
- Was Vontaze Burfict’s suspension overkill (50:35)?
All this and more!
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