One of the Broncos’ biggest weaknesses is one of Vic Fangio’s greatest strengths

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Vic Fangio is known as a defensive mastermind.

In Denver, his new home, people are quickly becoming familiar with the catchy names he’s been called.

Godfather. Mob boss. Evil genius.

On the football field, Fangio lived up to, and exceeded, all expectations put on his defensive unit in Chicago last year.

The Bears’ defense finished as the No. 1 scoring defense, led the league in takeaways and in rushing yards allowed.

But when Fangio was introduced as the 17th head coach in Broncos history, he wanted to make sure one area didn’t go overlooked.

“We had a lot of great statistical numbers this past year in Chicago. One that gets overlooked by most, but not by me, is that we were the second-least penalized defense in the NFL,” he said in a subtle tone.

For a coach that emphasizes fundamentals and discipline as much as Fangio, this is certainly a statistic he won’t let go.

“I believe I was told today that three of the last four years we were in the top five in least penalized [defenses],” he said, proudly tooting his own horn.

And that’s exactly what the Broncos need.

Last year, discipline and Broncos couldn’t be used in the same sentence — on and off the field.

Denver finished as the second-most penalized team in the league, averaging a whopping 7.8 penalties per game, including multiple double-digit penalty games.

The Broncos made it rain yellow flags all year long on their way to a 6-10 season.

Remember Domata Peko’s illegal block in the back that cost the Broncos a touchdown against the Ravens?

How about Emmanuel Sanders taunting penalty that cost them four points in what turned out to be a three-point loss?

Not on Vic’s watch.

And the new sheriff — or evil genius — in town knows how to address the issue.

“What we’re really talking about is execution. Discipline is a broad term that people use too loosely. If you play with good technique, you will avoid being penalized too many times,” Fangio explained.

“Some penalties are just going to happen. They happen in the competition of the game. Some are more avoidable, and we’re going to work hard to avoid those. There are ways to teach that and emphasize that, and we are going to do that.”

Discipline and fundamentals have been in Fangio’s DNA for the past 39 years when he got into coaching. Now he’s going to pump that into the Broncos organization.