For John Elway and Denver Broncos, It’s All About Being the Best

By Court Zierk @courtzierk on January 13, 2015

On a frigid Denver night in 2012, the Denver Broncos fell victim to one of the most painful moments in NFL history, when Jacoby Jones shockingly slipped behind safety Rahim Moore, and caught a game-tying, 70-yard touchdown with 31 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. It was a devastating moment for Broncos fans everywhere, whose mouths were collectively hanging to the ground in disbelief.

With as unpredictable as that game had been, the Broncos, led by Peyton Manning, still had a chance. They were set to receive the ensuing kickoff, had two timeouts remaining, one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time under center, and all they needed was a field goal to walk away victorious. There was still hope, and that hope was palpable among everyone watching the game.

But, then something completely unexpected happened. Instead of calling a few safe out routes to try to get the Broncos into field goal position, John Fox instead instructed Manning to take a knee, and all the Broncos could do is watch as the seconds ticked off the clock in regulation, sending a dismayed team into an overtime period that very few felt they had a chance in.

Fox would later go on to say that he felt his team was too “shocked” to do anything besides take a knee. Too shocked? Isn’t that the head coach’s job to manage the emotions of his team, and to regulate volatile situations?

This isn’t where the relationship between Fox and John Elway soured, but I imagine that this was the precipitating factor for the inevitable divorce that finally came to fruition yesterday. Elway has never met a challenge he couldn’t face head on and conquer. To watch his beloved Broncos take a knee, and wave the white flag must have been almost unbearable for him to watch.

But, that moment was two long-and-distant years ago. So much has happened since that time. The Broncos have continued to be one of the most successful franchises not only in the NFL, but in any of the four major sports. Fox somehow managed to lead this team to four straight AFC West titles, a Super Bowl appearance, and three straight 12-plus win seasons. For most franchises, this would be supremely welcomed outcomes.

Not for the Broncos. Elway said before the start of this season that the moves he made were not aimed at “winning now, but from now on.” There wasn’t a team that did more to bolster its roster than the Broncos, which spent nearly $70 million on the first day of free agency alone.

There were no excuses to be had this season. Last year’s Super Bowl loss was widely attributed to the lack of formidability on the defensive side of the ball. Elway went out and brought in some of the top defenders in the league. Expectations for the Broncos were quite literally “Super Bowl victory or bust”.

But, was this the only reason that Fox and the Broncos mutually parted ways yesterday? Surely, the head coach of a team that had won at least 12 games in the past three seasons couldn’t be jettisoned with that much haste. No other coach besides Tony Dungy has ever not returned to coach their team after putting up three consecutive seasons of that magnitude, and he retired. Put simply, ousting Fox was an unprecedented decision.

I can’t believe that there isn’t much more to the story than what we are being told. The strangeness started before the AFC Divisional Game had even started this year, when Jay Glazer, one of Fox’s closest friends, put out a report stating that if the Broncos lost the game against the Indianapolis Colts, he would likely be fired and opened to other opportunities. It was such strange timing for that story to be released.

It can only be deduced that the story was released with Fox’s explicit consent on the content and timing, considering his relationship with Glazer. But, the timing made no sense. Why not wait until after the Broncos actually lost to release that story? The only answer that makes any sense to me is that Fox wanted to make sure that teams waited to fill their coaching vacancies until he was considered for the job.

That tells me one thing; Elway planned to fire Fox for anything short of a Super Bowl victory, and Fox knew it.

There was even interpretable evidence in their loss to the Colts that Manning and the assistant coaching staff, namely offensive coordinator Adam Gase, deliberately undermined Fox’s coaching decisions in favor of their own approach to the game, which frankly turned out to be a disaster. I have no hard evidence to support this, but anyone who has watched Fox coach throughout his career knows that he would never have continually emphasized the deep ball, when it had failed on multiple occasions.

One can also deduce from how the events of yesterday unfolded, that this wasn’t a hasty move made by Elway. It is likely that this split was a long time in the making, and that the philosophical differences between Fox and Elway were likely more pronounced than anyone had previously thought, and that their relationship was far more dysfunctional than the public knew. Kudos to the Broncos PR department for keeping that so well under wraps.

The bottom line is that Elway gave Fox, and his coaching staff, a virtual blank check, which resulted in the construction of one of the most talented Broncos teams in franchise history. In fact, I would argue this may go down as one of the most talented teams to never win a Super Bowl, even putting them ahead of the Buffalo Bills teams of the ‘90s.

Fox’s tenure in Denver will be remembered as a mixed bag.

It’s hard to forget that this is a team that was in contention for the Super Bowl every season, but it’s equally hard to ignore some of the blatantly ill-advised coaching decisions made by Fox over the years that may have cost this franchise their coveted third Lombardi Trophy. You may or may not agree with the decision to part ways with Fox, but after the performance against the Colts, some of the details that are now coming to the surface regarding Fox’s relationship with the organization, and the apparent willingness of players and coaching staff to undermine his decision-making, it was really the only move that could have been made.

All eyes will now turn towards bringing Gary Kubiak back home, or bringing in Dan Quinn to lead this team to the promised land, but it is difficult to ignore the possibility that they may have missed their window, and that this could quickly turn into a rebuilding process. But, with Elway leading the process of reconstructing this roster and deciding on a new coach, Broncos fans can rest easy with the knowledge that he will settle for nothing less than a Super Bowl title.

For the Denver Broncos, it’s not about simply winning. It’s about winning it all.

Court Zierk is a Columnist for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @CourtZierk, “Like” him on Facebook or add him on Google.