The Vance Joseph era started kindly for the Broncos. Very kindly, in fact.
After grabbing Joseph — the man John Elway admitted he had his eyes on for years — Denver added the perfect compliments to his staff.
At least that’s how it was viewed at the time.
Grabbing Mike McCoy to run the offense was seen as a home-run hire as well as being an excellent resource for the first-time head coach.
Then, the Broncos seemingly hit a grand slam, hiring former offensive coordinator, and “genius,” Bill Musgrave as the team’s quarterback coach. At the time, it was believed Musgrave could get other offensive coordinating jobs around the league, but he instead took a demotion to be with Denver.
In 2017, it was believed John Elway had done it again.
Fast forward a mere two years, and it was all a disaster.
McCoy only lasted 10 games into his second stint with the Broncos after refusing to simplify his offense that averaged an abysmal 14.6 points per game over his final eight games with the team.
Then, Denver turned to their highly-anticipated plan B option, hoping Musgrave would save the sinking ship.
Over the next year and a half, it became clear Musgrave didn’t have the special potion needed to complete the difficult task, losing his job along with Vance Joseph following the 2018 season.
It’s not rocket science why McCoy was viewed as wildly successful in one stint with the Broncos and a complete and utter failure in the other.
In his first, he had Peyton freaking Manning.
In his second, he had Trevor Siemian and Paxton Lynch.
A first-ballot Hall of Fame quarterback versus a career backup signal caller and a man who’s barely still in the league.
Now, in 2019, the Broncos sit in a very familiar position to one just two years ago.
It appears, once again, Elway’s knocked it out of the park.
Not only did No. 7 land his top head coaching candidate, Vic Fangio, he landed his first runner-up, bringing in the best offensive line coach in the league in Mike Munchak.
Fangio deemed Munchak a “home-run hire.”
If that wasn’t enough, Elway & Co. landed their No. 1 option at both coordinator positions — Rich Scangarello on offense and Ed Donatell on defense.
History would say, however, that this all-star coaching staff won’t matter if the proper pieces aren’t brought in talent-wise.
This isn’t college where coaches dominate. This is the pros where stars, specifically the ones under center, dominate.
Heck, look no further than the four teams that played in this year’s conference championship games. There were first-round picks in Patrick Mahomes and Jared Goff and future Hall of Famers Drew Brees and a guy by the name of Tom Brady.
It does appears Elway is prepared to give his new coaches the horses needed to succeed, too.
“Obviously, we’ve got to — Case [Keenum] is probably a short-term fix — find the long-term guy for us,” he said, opening up to Peter King about the Broncos’ quarterback situation.
So far, so great for John Elway and Vic Fangio.
But history would say this is all small potatoes in the long run if the Broncos don’t land a franchise man at the most important position in all of sports.
