Another Broncos loss, and this fan finally has had enough.
Dear Mr. McDaniels,
(I call you “Mr.” ironically. You’re only 4 months older than me.)
I used to defend you. Even as recently as 4 games into this season. When I (and everyone else in Denver) was clamoring for a defensive-minded coach, and we got you instead, I defended you. I believed Bowlen must have seen something that he couldn’t ignore, perhaps a Shanahan-esque spark. When you and Cutler got into your little slap fight, I accepted that you were probably right, that Jay was a great athlete with a serious attitude problem. I bought into the ‘team first’ argument, that Cutler was just throwing a hissy-fit. I agreed that as big of a playmaker that he is, Brandon Marshall had given up on the team and needed to move on, and that our other Brandon (Lloyd) would do just fine. Even as things seemed to be imploding after the first few games of the year, I believed that Orton was playing so well that it would only take a few weeks for things to come together and that while we probably wouldn’t make the playoffs, we’d see respectable improvement. When everyone around me was calling for your head and giving you silly nicknames like “McHoodie” and “McDummy” and “McEgo” (I’ll leave the more vulgar versions to your imagination), I tried to remain cautiously optimistic.
Did you really think that you could take apart this team and put together a winner that quickly?
You didn’t just take it apart, you dismantled it. Completely. You took a potent offense and replaced it with an anemic running attack and flashes of passing game brilliance. You took a poor defense, watched Mike Nolan do the best he could with substandard players, then couldn’t find it within yourself to get along with the man, and he took off without so much as a good-bye. Then you used the draft to stock up on more offensive players.
Did you really think you could get away with the little video trick?
I’m sorry, but I’m tired of being lied to. It’s the Patriot Way. Everyone thinks the Patriot Way means lots of winning. I disagree. I think it means that you preach about character, but internally it’s a dictatorship built on fear and threats. The problem, Josh, is that people don’t fear you like they fear Belichek. A hoody does not an authoritarian make. You expect us to believe that the video director acted on his own? That this was the first time? That it’s a pure coincidence that this happened during your time in New England, and suddenly it’s happening here? Even if you didn’t watch the tape (and God, I hope you didn’t), you hired a video director who thought, if only for six minutes, that you would appreciate the initiative. If you run such a high-character organization, why would this lone ranging ex-Patriot staffer bring you the tape like a dog presenting a dead squirrel looking for approval? Chances are, he believed you’d be appreciative – he sure didn’t think he’d get fired for it. Due process be damned – where there’s smoke there’s fire.
What we’re seeing is a pattern.
And it’s not a pattern I like. It’s as if we’re being sold a bill of goods, but what we’re getting isn’t what’s advertised. It’s a pattern of people running the other way. Mike Nolan, for instance, walked away. He has strong Denver ties, and he couldn’t get out of town fast enough. Cutler left without even a hint of respect. Marshall claimed on national TV that if McDaniels weren’t the coach, he and Cutler would still be in Denver. Scheffler left under the same cloud.
Oh the humanity!
That distinct smell of smoke and burning fuel is more than just the season – that went down in flames after week 4. I could even abide the losing streak if I felt like we were on track to win in the near future. But it’s more than that. There is no respect. The Broncos built over the last 30 years a tradition of class and respect. Free agents wanted to come here. Coaches lined up to interview for the jobs. And most importantly, even when they were bad, the teams won. Now, it’s not even close. The Rams hung up 36 on us today. The Raiders could have cracked 60, if they hadn’t put on the brakes. The 49ers, another once glorious franchise mired in sub-mediocrity, looked like all-pro players when they encountered this team.
Mr. McDaniels, you’ve stolen the soul of Bronco Nation, wrapped it in a grey hoodie, and stuck it on the shelf behind your signed photo of Matt Cassel, and I for one am finally done with you. I tried, I really tried, but now I look at this team and I can’t see an end in sight. I can’t see how you will restore this team to the mantle it deserves as one of the premier franchises of the NFL. If this were Premier League soccer, we’d have been relegated by now, without so much as a second look. I don’t want to call for your firing, largely because I know it won’t happen. I don’t want you to go because I honestly want to see the Tebow experiment come to fruition and work out. But you’ve gone too far. The losing is one thing – turning the once proud Broncos into a leaguewide joke… that’s something else altogether and you don’t deserve the title of Denver Broncos Head Coach.
