Broncos fire coach Shanahan December 31
Denver Post
"To understand how the shocking decision to fire iconic Broncos coach Mike Shanahan could have been made, one needs to understand team owner Pat Bowlen. In recent years, Bowlen has not been afraid to speak of his mortality. He has made references to his eventual resting place in a pine box while still wearing his boots as Denver's NFL franchise owner. "I've only got so many years left in this chair," Bowlen once said in an interview with The Denver Post. "The way that I will be judged after I'm gone is how many Super Bowls did I win. To my mind, that's tantamount to everything else." By dismissing the coach he so steadfastly supported for the past 14 years, Bowlen demonstrated Tuesday his bottom line is wins and losses, not his financial ledger. There may have been many factors that went into the firing, but there was just one main reason: The Broncos, under Shanahan's unilateral control, won just one playoff game in the past 10 years. Bowlen decided that was not enough and called Shanahan into his office about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday and notified his coach he was going in a different direction. Shanahan left soon after, then called his coaches into a meeting about 2:30 p.m. to inform them. "He said, 'I hate to tell you this before everybody starts their vacation,' and he told us Mr. Bowlen had decided to go in a different direction," said Scott O'Brien, Broncos special- teams coordinator. "It was shocking to all of us. We were all disappointed with the season, but based on what we went through, nobody expected this. Anytime you go through the kind of injuries we had, it's hard. I give Mike a lot of credit doing what he could do to keep going. But it's a tough deal." The team issued a news release at midafternoon, with Bowlen stating: "After giving this careful consideration, I have concluded that a change in our football operations is in the best interests of the Denver Broncos. This is certainly a difficult decision, but one that I feel must be made and which will ultimately be in the best interests of all concerned." Decision surprised the coach Bowlen's decision surprised Shanahan, according to his son. "Yeah, I think so," said Kyle Shanahan, offensive coordinator for the Houston Texans. "I know I definitely was. When I look at their team as a coach, I thought he had one of his better coaching years, to tell you the truth. To put up the numbers they did offensively and do that without a running back for the first time in his tenure there, it was impressive how they moved the ball regardless.
"But I don't think that was the point. It sounded like it was time to move on. I don't totally disagree with that, but I do think he deserved another year, and I think he has the team set up to do well in the future." Mike Shanahan and Bowlen could not be reached for comment. Tuesday morning, Shanahan had been briefed on the team's 2009 salary cap and team budget issues. He had scheduled his season-ending news conference for 11 a.m. today. I"
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