ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — On Tuesday morning, just before lunch, John Elway strolled into the team meeting room at the UCHealth Training Center ready to face the media for the annual end-of-season press conference to discuss the Denver Broncos’ disappointing year.
As he sat in his chair, he looked up through the bright lights to the large room speckled with media members and stole the show—as if John Elway in the room didn’t already do such.
“First of all, Happy New Year to everybody. There’s nobody happier than me that 2017 is over,” he said with a slight grin reaching across his face, breaking the ice, while at the same time being completely serious.
That is, of course, except for one person, “Maybe Vance,” Elway added.
While the comic relief was a perfect way for Elway to open up a press conference that was certain to be chalked full of many tough questions—after his team capped off a 5-11 season just 48 before with a loss against a team starting their backup quarterback—it was also the truth.
In Elway’s seven years leading the organization, 2017 was the worst by far. Not only was the team’s 5-11 record the worst in Elway’s tenure, it was the first time one of his teams finished with a losing record.
Even with this lack of success, Elway’s job was undoubtedly safe, but for the final 24 hours of the Broncos’ season, it appeared the same could not be said about head coach Vance Joseph’s position.
“It’s my responsibility to think about other options and kind of see what would be best for the football team,” Elway explained on Tuesday in regard to why there were reports that Denver may move on from Joseph after his first season on the job. “I thought about different options, but ultimately, my goal was to stay with Vance and give him that shot.”
On Monday morning, after meeting with Joseph and discussing their plan on how to move forward together, Elway announced his decision to give Vance a second season to lead the Broncos, despite a challenging rookie year.
“That’s the way that I wanted to go,” Elway said. “I think with Vance being here a year and getting a chance to go through things as a first-year head coach—I’m sure that, as I told him many times, he was drinking through a fire hose. When you go through learning what it takes to be a head coach in this league because there’s so much to it. That’s the direction I wanted to go.”
By sticking with Joseph for another season, the Broncos avoided a second head-coaching search in as many years and provided a level of continuity in most of the coaching staff moving forward.
While there certainly were rookie mistakes throughout the season by Joseph, Elway ultimately believed those mistakes were in fact just rookie errors and would not carry into his second season on the job. But while the evaluation of Joseph was crucial in determining his fate, it was the evaluation of Elway himself, as general manager, that also led to Joseph’s return.
“I also want to give him the best opportunity to be successful. I don’t feel like we gave him that chance,” the GM said, pointing the finger at himself. “We had some positions that didn’t play very well, that I thought would play better than they played. I didn’t feel like we gave Vance the best opportunity to be successful. So, that part is on me. We will get that part fixed also this coming year, hopefully solve those issues and give Vance, and his staff, the best opportunity to be successful.”
The Broncos only had two Pro Bowl players in 2017—Von Miller and Aqib Talib. Although there could have been a strong case for others on the defense, the offensive side of the ball lacked production, specifically at quarterback in Elway’s eyes.
“That position didn’t perform as well as we wanted it to,” he said.
In the end, Joseph inherited a quarterback situation that was not suited for success in the NFL and Elway was aware that he only had himself to blame for that. As the team moves forward, the GM says their No. 1 priority will be solidifying the QB position. With that in place, Vance Joseph’s true test begins.
