Another year, another meaningless game to end the season for the Denver Broncos.
With no hope of the playoffs, Denver will attempt to spoil the Kansas City Chiefs’ effort to lock up the No. 1 seed in the AFC and try to break their 12-game losing streak against their division foe.
With no shot at the playoffs, and a fifth-straight losing season guaranteed, it’s a matter of what, not if, changes will be made following Saturday’s game.
Will George Paton move on from the entire coaching staff or just parts of it?
The DNVR Crew breaks it down in the 18th, and final regular-season, edition of Broncos Pick ‘Em.
All odds below are courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook.
What changes will be made after Saturday?
Zac: Bye bye Pat Shurmur and Tom McMahon — That’s right, Vic Fangio is not on my list. At this point, I’m not convinced George Paton is going to move on from Denver’s head coach.
Let’s face it, the Broncos’ defense was not the issue this year. In fact, they were a top defense in the NFL. At the same time, Fangio is the head coach and ultimately responsible for not just the defense, but for the offense and special teams. But let’s not fool ourselves, Shurmur, not Fangio, was the true leader of the Broncos’ sluggish offense.
Paton could very well want to keep Fangio and see what he can do with a competent offense. In this scenario, Paton will have a massive hand in hiring the next offensive coordinator and helping rebuild Fangio’s staff.
Saying that, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if Paton moved on from everyone. But a top-notch defense, and two more wins from last year, will make Paton think twice about moving on from Fangio.
Mase: Two coordinators and a head coach gone — Just because the team is looking at an ownership transition in the next few months should not preclude the Broncos from making changes at head coach, offensive coordinator and special-teams coordinator.
As I wrote earlier this week, the track record of coaches retained for a fourth season after three losing seasons to open their tenure is staggeringly poor; in the 21st century, Jeff Fisher of the St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams is the only coach to make it beyond a fourth season when keeping his job, and he was shown the door 13 games into his fifth campaign. Three years is generally enough to know what you have. Game-management and replay-challenge issues continue to plague the Broncos; in the last three seasons, Denver ranks 29th in replay-challenge success rate, at just 25 percent.
That said, it would be an upset if the changes result in a clean sweep of the staff, especially given the lengthy and stellar resume of defensive coordinator Ed Donatell, and the generally-excellent work of position coaches, particularly inside-linebackers coach Reggie Herring and defensive-line coach Bill Kollar, both of whom were a part of the staff in Super Bowl 50. Herring, in particular, has done marvelous work this season getting young fill-in starters Baron Browning and Jonas Griffith up to speed.
RK: New coach, new quarterback, new owner — There are four pillars of a successful NFL franchise and the Broncos will be replacing three of them this season, with GM George Paton being the only current pillar standing.
That’s a lot of change for one offseason, but for a team that hasn’t made the playoffs for six straight seasons since winning Super Bowl 50 — an NFL record they probably wish they didn’t hold — change is a good thing.
If the Broncos can somehow get the right people in all three of those positions, good times will be back sooner than later.
Picks Picks Picks
Drew Lock passing yards over/under 206.5
Zac: Over.
Mase: Over.
RK: Under.
Patrick Mahomes passing yards over/under 265.5
Zac: Over.
Mase: Under.
RK: Over.
Javonte Williams rushing yards over/under 52.5
Zac: Over.
Mase: Over.
RK: Under.
Noah Fant receiving yards over/under 40.5
Zac: Over.
Mase: Over.
RK: Over.
Tyreek Hill + Travis Kelce combined receiving yards over/under 199.5 (+225)
Zac: Under.
Mase: Under.
RK: Under.
Broncos total points over/under 16.5
Zac: Under.
Mase: Under.
RK: Under.
Chiefs total points over/under 27.5
Zac: Over.
Mase: Over.
RK: Over.
Broncos-Chiefs over/under 45
Zac: Under.
Mase: Under.
RK: Under.
Chiefs (-10.5) @ Broncos
Zac: Chiefs.
Mase: K.C.
RK: Chiefs.
Chargers (-3) @ Raiders
Zac: Chargers.
Mase: L.A.
RK: Raiders.
Leaderboard
Zac: 5-5
Mase: 5-5
RK: 4-6
Overall
Zac: 116-130
RK: 114-132
Mase: 113-133
