In his first season as the Carolina Panthers’ head coach, John Fox took over a team that had finished 1-15 the previous season.
Fox’s first Panthers team then jumped from the gate and opened the 2002 season 3-0 before an eight-game losing streak turned that fast start into a lackluster mark. The Panthers rallied down the stretch to finish 7-9.
Fox was hired in Denver to take over a team that had finished 4-12 in the previous season. How the story of this first season ends remains to be seen.
But when Fox took this job, he also got a built-in, ready-made quarterback controversy percolating as part of the deal. That controversy quickly went to full boil as soon as the lockout ended and the Broncos took to the practice field for training camp.
The Broncos’ choice at quarterback has dominated local, national and perhaps even international discussion about the team.
Players have said privately and publicly they are tired of it.
OK, then, if Fox does what is fully expected of him Tuesday and names Tim Tebow the team’s starting quarterback, that gets checked off the list and the Broncos will have made an awful lot of people happy. But they will have some significant issues to deal with in the remaining 11 weeks of the season:
A little more than a week ago, Fox was almost chiding fans who were desperate for Tebow to start by saying the people who made the football decisions at Dove Valley did it “full time” and not “part time.”
He said Orton gave the team the best chance to win, that there had been a competition, that Orton won that competition and Tebow was continuing to work.
Just two quarters of football later, Orton was out, Tebow in.
So, an awful lot of personnel people in the league believe the Broncos can’t keep Orton around if Tebow indeed gets the full-time job, as expected. Too much has gone on, too many things said publicly and behind the scenes about the quarterback depth chart.
Some GMs believe the Broncos could go as far as to release Orton in the not-so-distant future simply for his own good as well as the atmosphere in their own locker room. The league’s trade deadline is Oct. 18, but that would mean a team would have to take on Orton’s hefty contract, which is now guaranteed for the year because he is a vested player, and see him go into free agency at season’s end.
The Broncos’ demands in any trade likely have decreased significantly since training camp.
The Broncos are 30th in scoring defense after Sunday’s game, and that is certainly not the neighborhood they prefer.
They say it’s a consistency issue, but few teams this side of Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers can succeed surrendering 28 points a game, no matter what they’re doing on offense.
The Broncos are playing far more youth on defense, so even beyond Tebow trying to get settled in behind center, the most severe growing pains for the rest of the season could be felt on the defensive side of the ball.
The Broncos have a significant amount of season to play. Yet they simply look worn down at times after just five weeks. Whether or not it be the quarterback carousel, they have looked like a tired team on and off over the first five games.
Fox’s challenge after the bye will be to kick-start a team, emotionally and physically, that faces five road games in the first seven after the off week.
Jeff Legwold: 303-954-2359 or jlegwold@denverpost.com
