How will rescue the Broncos from a big mess this time?
Elway is the answer to every team crisis. He has been the answer forever. For a generation, Elway’s modus operandi has been etched in stone. “He’s the king of the comeback,” Broncos linebacker said.
Elway is the Broncos. Now, more than ever. Franchise owner Pat Bowlen is ill and isn’t coming back to run the team. Coach , then hopped in his truck and moved on down the road.
So isn’t it time Elway is put in charge of the team for life? In these tumultuous times for the Broncos, when it has taken more than two years to find a suitable heir to Mr. B, please tell me ?
Around the NFL, Elway is viewed as a Broncos lifer. So why isn’t his contract extension done already?
Out of concern rather than to be critical, I asked Broncos president Joe Ellis: Could he ever see Elway as the face of an NFL franchise outside of Denver?
“I really don’t see (John) working anywhere else. And I feel itap important I do everything I can to make sure that doesn’t happen,” said Ellis, who has worked to sign Elway to a contract extension since October. “Look at his record. Quite frankly, I could see teams calling and say: ‘Hey, we’d like to have a discussion.’ I have no interest in losing him. I have every interest in keeping him.”
You know the story. Itap the greatest sports story told in Colorado. Elway led the Broncos to the NFL championship twice as a quarterback. He came back from a mid-life crisis that saw him lose his marriage, his father and his sister to become the front-office architect that restored the glory and .
The ravages of Alzheimer’s disease forced Bowlen to step down in July 2014. Passing on the keys to the family business is never easy, especially when that business is worth in excess of $2 billion. This has been a delicate dance, performed artfully by Ellis and Elway. Itap harder than it looks. But itap time to stop messing around, before the NFL fraternity gets antsy for an answer about ownership in Denver and I begin to wonder if a 9-7 record might have been a symptom of a family business impacted by family anxiety.
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“I think thatap a feeble excuse. Pat Bowlen has set us up with a blueprint for how to do things. And (Elway) has known him for as long as I have him, back to 1984 when he brought the team,” Ellis said.
“We’re set up to succeed. This notion that there’s something in flux in terms of the transition from Pat to one of his children and thatap going to take away from our ability to succeed, I just don’t buy that.”
Maybe itap none of our business which of Bowlen’s children take control of the team, even if the Broncos are loved like family in Colorado and we built them the house and spit the bad taste from a disappointing 2016 season.
But if you asked apountry who should own the team, here’s guessing the No. 1 answer would be: John Elway.
Elway is the Broncos. In many ways that matter most to Colorado, it already is his team.
Fans can argue whether Kyle Shanahan, Vance Joseph or David Shaw is best suited to be the team’s next coach. But does it really matter? If a coach doesn’t win it all (John Fox), or even if he does bring home a Super Bowl ring (Kubiak), the demands of working in Denver for Elway can wear out any coach quickly.
“The goal and the plan has not changed,” Elway said. “And thatap to compete for world championships.”
The Broncos will be OK so long as they have Elway in the barn. We cannot imagine the team photo without Elway in it. In the modern NFL of constant roster churn, the real mastermind is not necessarily the coach, but a general manager able to find the way to win now and from now on.
The real big deal for the Broncos in 2017 will be finalized with a handshake between Elway and the Bowlen heir smart enough to keep this football kingdom safe from falling on hard times.
