Ryan Harris was sure it was a joke.
“No,” said the radio producer on the other end of the phone call. “Turn on ESPN.”
Harris, the Broncos’ starting right tackle, flipped the channel to see the breaking news update.
Sure enough, his boss had been fired after 14 seasons as the Broncos’ head coach.
“I think a lot of people thought it was a joke when they heard the news today,” Harris said. “Except it wasn’t.”
Bronco players flew back to Denver from San Diego late Sunday night and Monday morning reported to team headquarters to clean out their lockers.
There was no team-wide meeting, and players said they had no indication of the major bombshell that was to come a day later. Harris said the last time he saw Shanahan was on that flight home.
“If anyone tells you they thought this was going to happen, they’re stretching the truth,” Harris said.
After Sunday night’s 52-21 loss to San Diego and then again Monday morning, players acknowledged that there would be changes this offseason. But no one saw this happening.
“A coach can do so much, and at some point, the players have to be accountable for us not winning 1-of-3 to end the season,” Josh Bell said. “Coach Shanahan got his head chopped because of how we played.”
The news Tuesday set off a chain reaction of phone calls and text messages among players.
Harris said he and several teammates exchanged stories of how they learned of Shanahan’s firing from second-hand sources, while Bell said he was going to call veterans Dre Bly and Champ Bailey for advice on how to handle a coaching change.
Now players must also wait to see who Bowlen will hire to be their new coach. As with any coaching change, there could be other trickle-down moves as well.
“Right now, it’s just the thought of the coaches who are out there right now. Who will they go after?” Bell said. “I just want to win. I love Coach Shanahan. He had the faith in me to move me up and allow me to play at this level. Whoever they bring in, I’m a good soldier.”
Harris was part of a team at Notre Dame that had a coaching change, from Ty Willingham to Charlie Weis.
“I know that it’s going to be a healing process for us players,” Harris said. “Of course we have strong loyalties to Shanahan. He gave a lot of people, myself included, our opportunities to play. And he was our coach up to a few hours ago. It will take time to understand that someone else is our coach.
Lindsay H. Jones: 303-954-1262 or ljones@denverpost.com
