Glendale, Ariz. – Giving a whole new meaning to must win, coach Mike Shanahan put the Broncos on notice last week that if all the bad stuff did not stop, the next thing lost would be the jobs of players.
“He went straight to the point. Instead of beating around the bush, he pointed a finger at all of us. There was no reason to sugarcoat it,” said Denver linebacker Al Wilson, summarizing the stern message Shanahan gave his slumping team during a meeting, as the Broncos prepared for a game against Arizona. “He told us: ‘If you don’t show the effort and you don’t do your job, you aren’t going to be here.”‘
Denver defeated Arizona 37-20 on Sunday.
Message received.
Think nothing beats the desperation of a football team looking to halt the slide of a four-game losing streak and save its fading playoff hopes?
Then I wish you could have seen the edgy motivation in the eyes of these Broncos, who were playing to save their own hides.
“You know the old saying, ‘stuff creeps in’?” Denver safety John Lynch said. “Stuff was creeping in on this football team.”
And it stunk.
The 7-2 record that Denver had worked so hard to craft slid straight in the dumpster during as bad a stretch as Shanahan had endured since taking control of the Broncos in 1995.
There was an awkward sacking of quarterback Jake Plummer, as the team rushed the inevitable and turned over the offense to 23-year-old rookie Jay Cutler in the heat of a playoff race.
Whether some Broncos had lost the faith became an open question in the locker room, posed by cornerback Darrent Williams.
It was reasonable to wonder if Shanahan had lost this team, so reliant on veterans such as center Tom Nalen and receiver Rod Smith, who are much too old to play exhibition games in December, while a kid QB is groomed for the future.
Rather than fret about the possibility of disappointed players tuning him out and going through the motions, Shanahan responded with a no-more-messing-around edict delivered with such self-assured calm it was spooky:
Get with the program. Or get out.
Shanahan called out everyone in the Denver locker room, where perhaps the presumption of success had allowed the players to get fat and sloppy, while carelessly plopping their feet on a proud franchise’s winning history, as if that precious tradition was a lumpy old sofa.
“He didn’t mince words,” Lynch said.
While Shanahan can be criticized for blown draft choices, dissed for roasting scapegoats from Greg Robinson to Bubby Brister and goaded for scant success in the playoffs since No. 7 left the building, there is one thing that cannot be denied in his status as Broncos coach for life.
It’s good to be the king. There’s no arguing with the authority of Shanahan. Dale Carter might come and Todd Sauerbrun will go, but the coach never blinks.
After Javon Walker hauled in an early 54-yard touchdown pass from Cutler that had old Broncos coach Dan Reeves shaking his head in a stadium radio booth, thinking he had seen a clone of John Elway, the Cardinals never really had a chance.
Although the Denver running game did little on behalf of the long-term job security of Tatum Bell or Mike Bell, there were signs that Smith might have a few more touchdown catches in his old bones, and a beat-up Broncos defense took out its frustrations on Arizona quarterback Matt Leinart.
But long before the Broncos traveled to the desert, Shanahan drew a line in the sand.
“It’s nice to win. I missed it. I forgot how good it felt,” Denver cornerback Champ Bailey said.
Shanahan is Donald Trump. The Broncos are his 53 apprentices.
Win.
Or you’re fired.
With two weeks remaining in the regular season, Denver is playing for more than its playoff life.
In every corner of a locker room that has been infused with some serious creative tension by their boss, the Broncos are now playing for their very livelihoods.
Staff writer Mark Kiszla can be reached at 303-954-1053 or mkiszla@denverpost.com.
