If the Denver Broncos decided to bring Vic Fangio back as head coach for the 2022 season, what changes would be absolute necessities?
As the 2021 NFL season draws to a close, Denver Broncos fans everywhere are wondering what is next. What moves will George Paton make?
A lot of people are understandably anticipating wholesale changes with this franchise, starting with the head coaching position which is currently a role held by Vic Fangio.
Fangio’s first three seasons in Denver have been rather interesting, to say the very least. The Broncos were not a very good team in 2019 as a whole, but they did have some promising young players and a defensive core that John Elway felt would be greatly enhanced by Fangio’s presence.
Unfortunately, the team chose to trade for Joe Flacco at the quarterback position and move on from Case Keenum, a move that will go down as one of John Elway’s worst as an executive. Not necessarily the fact that Elway moved on from Keenum, but the fact that the move was Joe Flacco in the first place.
From the outset, it seems from the outside looking in that Fangio has had a pretty substantial say in player personnel as well as coaches. He has not had roster autonomy but Fangio’s stamp is all over the roster, and some moves have obviously been more sensible than others.
The Broncos were still rebuilding in 2019 but they managed to win four of the final five games of that otherwise dismal season with a number of players breaking through as bright spots, including wide receiver Courtland Sutton and rookies Noah Fant and Drew Lock.
It feels like it’s been a lifetime since that group was torching the Houston Texans on the road late in that 2019 season.
Nevertheless, the 2020 offseason hit, and the first order of business for Fangio and company was to fire Rich Scangarello and hire Pat Shurmur as offensive coordinator. That decision would ultimately pave the way for where we are today with the Denver Broncos absolutely regressing offensively over the past couple of seasons, Shurmur’s scheme not helping any of the young playmakers, and the development of Drew Lock a failure up to this point.
The Broncos’ offense is still horrendous, but the defense has been good with Fangio at the helm, regardless of the player personnel on the field.
Although the 2021 season was supposedly a playoff-mandated season for Fangio and his staff, there remains a chance that Fangio could still be the head coach of the team after the Broncos’ Week 18 matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs.
That may seem unlikely to many of you, but there are a number of things to keep in mind here. First and foremost, general manager George Paton stated upon his arrival to Denver that Fangio was a reason why he decided to come to the Broncos.
Although it appears as though Fangio had a stake in the acquisition of Joe Flacco and he chose to go with Teddy Bridgewater over Drew Lock in the 2021 season, it’s impossible to argue that Fangio has had it “good” at the QB position.
The Broncos — George Paton, specifically — need to weigh whether they view Fangio as a truly strong head coach option moving forward and how important it is to keep him specifically in charge of their defense.
Again, there exists a chance that the Broncos keep Fangio beyond this season (he is under contract, after all) and if they do, there are some things I think should be required, not only of Fangio specifically but of the Broncos’ front office as well.