Denver Broncos: Where does Vic Fangio rank among returning head coaches?
The NFL will be returning 25 of the 32 head coaches from last season.
Of course, Denver Broncos head coach Vic Fangio will be among those names. Fangio will be entering year three as head coach of the team and though it doesn’t seem like the franchise has come close to replacing him yet, it’s fair to say that he is probably on the hot seat in 2021.
Recently, NBC Sports ranked each of the 25 returning head coaches for the upcoming season. Names like Bill Belichick and Andy Reid are at the top of the list, as expected. But what place does Fangio come in?
Number 24.
Yes, second-worst on the list. But do Broncos fans have any argument that he should be higher on the list? Not really.
Coaches who were rookies last year, such as Matt Rhule and Joe Judge are ahead of him, so if you want to make the argument that Fangio should be higher than those guys, that’s probably fair.
But looking at Fangio’s body of work in Denver, he just hasn’t been good and has been just slightly better than Vance Joseph, which isn’t saying much. Or has he? Fangio has flubbed his clock management and just doesn’t seem to have a good game plan most weeks.
Fangio supporters would point to poor quarterback play, but teams like Washington and the Chicago Bears were playoff teams last year with less-than-stellar quarterback play. It’s an excuse that only goes so far.
Fangio will have to decide between Drew Lock and Teddy Bridgewater for the 2021 season. That could be the horse that he attaches his potential future in Denver to as another missed playoff season would likely mean his dismissal.
It’s quite possible that the only reason he hasn’t already been dismissed is that the team doesn’t want to turn another coach over after moving on from Joseph after just two years.
Joseph went 11-21 in those two seasons. Fangio is one game better at 12-20.
By the way, the only returning coach lower on these rankings than Fangio would be Zac Taylor of the Cincinnati Bengals. In two seasons with the Bengals, Taylor has a record of 6-25-1.
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It seems quite clear that Fangio will have to produce much better results this year, or he’ll be looking for his next place of work.