I am not talking about the ground attack of the United States Air Force on an Iraqi target, I am talking about the firing of Mike Shanahan.
Being a BIG Denver Broncos fan it was real shocking that Pat Bowlen fired Mike Shanahan. I reviewed the one true (non-monetary) stat that NFL owners look at when dealing with coaches, that is the win-loss record. That stat tells me a lot of how Bowlen made his decision:
Year Record Playoff result
2008 8-8 None
2007 7-9 None
2006 9-7 None
2005 13-3 L, AFC Championship
2004 10-6 L, First round
2003 10-6 L, First round
2002 9-7 None
2001 8-8 None
2000 11-5 L, First round
1999 6-10 None
Elway Retired
1998 14-2 W, Super Bowl
1997 12-4 W, Super Bowl
1996 13-3 L, Divisional
1995 8-8 None
You see post Elway that Shanahan had 9 out of the last 10 years that he did not make it past the first round of the playoffs and 6 years out of the last 10 he did not make it to the playoffs at all. If you say that making the playoffs is a successful season, then over the last 10 years Shanahan only succeeded 40% of the time that is not a great grade. Don't get me wrong I like Shanahan, and I believe he is an offensive genus. There lies the problem, to be successful you need to be able to coach both sides of the football and Defense and Special Teams are not his games (Note: the 40% success rate - that would be the offensive side of the ball). If you say that winning games is more important than the playoff thing lets look at his record over the last 10 years. He had 91 wins - 69 losses or a winning percentage of 57%. If you use the high school grading method that would still be an F. I know that there were those two Super Bowl wins, but maybe we just need to realize that Shanahan's time has come and some new blood or a new system will help. I know that if I was managing my maintenance team and we were only successful 57% of the time I don't think I would be on my post for very long. So my whole view is: I'm shocked that they fired Shanahan, and in awe, after going over the win - loss record, that they kept him so long.
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