ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Just over four months ago, Jerry Rosburg was sitting on his deck, sipping a cup of coffee and enjoying his lake view.
He had been retired from his NFL coaching career for three years. Along with enjoying a cup of coffee, at that point in his life, he was taking classes to try and advance hyperbaric oxygen therapy for a healthcare venture he is part of.
“I was going to school. I was trying to make myself better,” Rosburg said on Wednesday, two days after becoming the Denver Broncos’ interim head coach.
In between his sips of coffee back in September, George Paton called.
“I said yes,” Rosburg said.
Shortly after, Rosburg’s retirement from the NFL was over and he was in Denver.
With 40 years of coaching experience in his pocket, Rosburg assisted Nathaniel Hackett with game management. Quickly, game management wasn’t an issue with the Broncos anymore.
But that didn’t stop the losses from continuing to pile up in Denver. After Sunday’s 51-14 embarrassing loss to the 5-10 Los Angeles Rams, Hackett was fired.
Ejiro Evero declined to take the interim position—because of his friendship with Hackett and his desire to finish the year out as the team’s defensive coordinator—which led Paton to Rosberg.
“When George asked me, I said yes,” Rosburg said, accepting the position to be the Broncos’ interim head coach for the final two weeks of the season.
His first 48 hours on the job have been about one thing and one thing only.
“I’m desiring that we win two football games these next two weeks,” Rosburg stated during his first press conference on Wednesday, when asked if he desires to be the full-time head coach of the team.
The 67-year old’s first move on the job was to fire two coaches he thought were holding the team back. By Monday night, hours after taking the job, the Broncos had fired special teams coordinator Dwayne Stukes and offensive line coach Butch Barry.
“The changes in the staff that we’ve made have been my decisions,” Rosburg stated. “I know special teams, I’ve been coaching special teams for a long time. We weren’t good enough. We were 32nd in the league in one of the metrics that I follow and, if I’m not mistaken, there’s 32 teams in this league. So that had to change. And the only way it was going to change was for me to insert myself right in the middle of that thing.”
From 2001 until he retired following the 2018 season, Rosburg was a special teams coordinator in the NFL for the Browns, the Falcons and, most recently, the Ravens. Rosburg won’t take over Denver’s special teams alone as he elevated special teams assistant Mike Mallory to lead the group.
“Mike Mallory has done an incredible job in the time I’ve been working with him,” he said. “He took this and ran with it. I was so impressed with how he ran the meeting this morning. I think our special teams are in good hands. Mike is going to run the special teams and I’m going to be hip-deep in that.”
“With regard to Butch, I have great respect for Butch and affection. He’s a good man. Really a fine coach. I made that move because I wanted to move in a different direction with the offensive line,” Rosburg said. “I wanted to make an impactful move with the offensive line. We need to get better there to help all aspects of it. I made that decision. I take full responsibility for it. I’ve talked to Butch and I’ve talked to the players and it’s something that we’re going to move forward with at this point. That’s the nature of the National Football League. We’re trying to win.”
Assistant offensive line coach Ben Steele will take over those duties the final two weeks of the season.
“I’ve got to know Ben since my time here and I have a lot of confidence in him,” Rosburg said. “He has experience and I like where his mind is at with regard to the players and his role will expand in that area.”
“We’re making these changes for the good of this team so we can win two football games,” Rosburg said, once again emphasizing the importance of winning.
As to if the Broncos will have personnel changes across the offensive line for Sunday’s game, Rosburg kept it a secret.
“Well, we’ll let the Chiefs figure that out,” he said.
On the same day the Raiders benched Derek Carr for Jarrett Stidham, the Broncos did not follow suit.
“Russell Wilson’s our starting quarterback and will be our starting quarterback,” he said firmly. “We’re going to play every player that’s available, that’s healthy enough to play to try and win a football game.”
If inheriting a 4-11 football team with only two weeks left of the season wasn’t difficult enough, Rosburg’s first game will be against the 12-3 Chiefs in Kansas City, unquestionably Denver’s most difficult game of the season. Denver’s new head coach recognizes how much of a challenge that game will be.
“I also think that fans of the Denver Broncos are recognizing that fact too. That needs to change. That needs to change,” Rosburg said, when talking about the Chiefs 14-game win streak over the Broncos. “That’s a number that I’m having a hard time grasping, frankly, because this organization has a steadfast, incredible tradition. It can’t be that way. It just cannot be that way. In one week, I’m setting out to change the course of that.”
There would be no better way for the Rosburg era to begin—and for Jerry to build a case that he should be the permanent head coach of the Broncos—than by snapping the streak against the Chiefs in Arrowhead.
