Like all Broncos coaches, Jim Bates reported to work Monday and began evaluating what went wrong in 2007.
“A rough year,” said Bates, head of the maligned Broncos defense. “Personally, it’s as tough as any in the 38 years I’ve coached. It was the toughest without question.”
What made it rough and tough, and maybe a tad embarrassing, was Bates had to abandon the defensive philosophy that was so intimately his in midseason. The Bates system at its core is equipped with a seven-man box. Five games into his first season with the Broncos, Bates and coach Mike Shanahan decided this unique system had to go.
The Broncos were so horrific at stopping the run, the more conventional eight-man box was employed.
One of the big questions in the Broncos’ offseason concerns whether Shanahan will give Bates another chance in 2008, but there is another way to pose the question: If Bates is forbidden from coaching his system, does he want to return?
“Until we meet and evaluate everything and get a chance to sit down with Mike and go over everything as far as where we’re at, I’ll leave that unanswered for now,” Bates said.
Shanahan and Bates are expected to meet this week.
Know who gave Bates his start as an NFL coach? Bill Belichick. It was 1991 and Belichick was just starting his failed five-year tenure with the Cleveland Browns. Bates later started coaching his seven-man box system in 1998 with the Dallas Cowboys, then took it to Miami in 2000 and Green Bay in 2005.
The Bates system moved to Denver in 2007. For five games. Then, Bates had to move from what he knew best. Was it uncomfortable for Bates to surrender his defensive formula?
“Oh yes, definitely,” he said. “When you play a system for 10 years, and then to have to make a change to give your team a chance, it’s tough. It was real tough. But the players handled it well and did a good job. It was a little spotty, but there were some encouraging signs as we went down the stretch. Several positions improved, especially in the last four or five games.”
One position receiving a jolt of youth and promise was safety, where Hamza Abdullah replaced veteran Nick Ferguson. Abdullah laid blame for the defense’s failures — the 409 points were the most allowed by the Broncos in 40 years — on the players, not Bates.
“His defenses worked wherever he’s been and it worked this year,” Abdullah said. “It’s just we haven’t come to grips with it and put together a full game. There would be times when we looked real good. It was evident (Sunday). We held Adrian Peterson to 30-something yards, but then when Chester Taylor came in we’d slack off a little and not do what we’re supposed to be doing. Not filling gaps, and missing tackles.”
The Broncos’ defense was strange that way. It did a decent job against LaDainian Tomlinson in Week 5, but then backup tailback Michael Turner broke off a 49-yard run while the San Diego Chargers were trying to run out the first-half clock.
“I’m not going to throw the blame here and throw the blame there,” Bates said. “It all starts with me. I’m the one who’s the head of the defense and I’m supposed to fix things. I didn’t do a good job.”
Mike Klis: 303-954-1055 or mklis@denverpost.com
