He’s just not entirely sold on the notion that Belichick is done coaching in the NFL.

“I’ll be honest with you, I miss him not being in the league,” Payton said Wednesday, . “I miss him not being in the league and I wouldn’t be surprised — and I would be somewhat hopeful that he ends up back in the league. We’d all be better for it. He’s somethin’.”

Belichick, of course, is a six-time Super Bowl champion in New England and just finished his first season as the head coach at the University of North Carolina.

Belichick got the nod over former Broncos coaches Mike Shanahan and Dan Reeves, former Seattle and Green Bay head coach Mike Holmgren and several others.

“I didn’t realize that coaches didn’t have to wait five years,” Payton said. “There’s a few planes right out here on the runway. One of them is Belichick, the other one’s Shanahan. There’s Holmgren. And it����ap just a matter of when they take off.”

Shanahan has made it deep into the process each of the past four years but has not yet been advanced as a finalist for consideration by the full Hall of Fame committee. Last year, a blue ribbon committee selected Holmgren as its coaching finalist, but Holmgren did not get enough support from the full body for enshrinement.

Payton has often called a week-plus coaching the NFC Pro Bowl team after his first year as a head coach a formative experience because Belichick was coaching the AFC team and he had a chance to pick the veteran’s brain.

“The timing was perfect,” Payton said. “I was in the NFC, he was in the AFC, and he was very gracious.”

The pair hosted a series of joint practices over the years and Payton always thought highly of how Belichick’s teams comported themselves.

“Honestly, if we at that time weren’t paying attention to what they were doing (in New England) — we looked closely at it,” Payton said. “Smart, tough, reliable football players. … I’d consider him a close coaching friend who’s had an impact on how we look at building a roster.”

The Broncos perch atop the AFC West with a 9-2 record. The No. 1 postseason seed, while complicated by a schedule tougher than New England’s, remains in reach. Everything ����apountry wanted has returned.

Well, not everything. There is the issue of the red dot on the cashmere sweater.

Are Bo Nix and Sean Payton back in sync?

Until we know this, we can’t possibly answer the biggest question remaining about the Broncos’ season: Is this a Super Bowl team?

Denver is now legitimate. The walk-off victory over the Chiefs turned players into a locker room full of Toby Keiths.

“How do you like me now?”

The Broncos regained national media darling status during the bye week. Concerns, though, about the offense linger. Nix outplayed Patrick Mahomes again, but did it really look that different?

Statistically, no? Aesthetically? Yes.

The secret sauce that needs to bind Nix and Payton together is not what you think.

It is not just tempo. It is pace.

When the Broncos were tied at 6-all at halftime, they had five first downs. Nix was 10 for 15 for 80 yards. And Jaleel McLaughlin led the running backs with 7 yards on the ground.

Yeah, that is not going to win at Indianapolis or New England in January.

What unfolded in the second half will. The biggest change came in the operation.

The disconnect between Nix and Payton, first surfacing in news conference answers for a few weeks, became obvious during the first half. Nix pointed to the sidelines, furiously signaling for Payton to hurry up with the play call. CBS sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson added after a failed drive, “The offensive line came off and said, ‘We need to change the tempo.'”

In the first drive of the third quarter, Nix and Payton finally found their sweet spot. Nix hit Troy Franklin for an 8-yard out, then R.J. Harvey collected a first down with a short gain.

This is when it happened, an organic solution.

Over the next nine plays, the Broncos went no-huddle five times. And it was sandwiched between shotgun formations twice. The Broncos scored a touchdown. Nix went 3 for 4 for 49 yards. The success was not in the numbers, but on the play clock.

Nix was getting to the line of scrimmage sooner with around 13 seconds to snap. Given time to take stock of the defense and get players in motion without screaming, Nix became comfortable. It was one drive. A high-distortion sample size.

But there is no denying that the outcome was directly linked to a smoother operation.

The idle week provides time to look back and map out the future. Payton must bend the offense around Nix’s strengths. And Nix must still do things Payton wants to keep.

It is a delicate balance, one that will determine the season’s success.

The Broncos face a new reality without running back J.K. Dobbins. He was the offense’s best player, and is sidelined until the Super Bowl, and even that is ambitious given his foot injury. It’s hard to imagine the Broncos playing in February without a solid running game. But what happened against the Chiefs was so encouraging that it left the quarterback and the coach in concert.

Clearly, Nix is best when the Broncos hurry up. He likes it when the defense becomes reactive, less aggressive, and unable to counter personnel groups. Quite obviously, Payton knows the Broncos are best when eating clock and staying balanced with time of possession to prevent undermining the team’s best asset: a historically great defense.

Remember, Payton’s 2008 Saints led the league in scoring and missed the playoffs.

Teams don’t hold reunions over statistics. They hold them because of championships.

The QB-coach disconnect began developing during the Eagles game, starting a pattern of three-quarter droughts and fourth-quarter magic. For those of us of a certain age, it conjured memories of the Dan Reeves-John Elway fit.

The Broncos’ offensive inconsistency became impossible to miss over the next six weeks. Nix completed 57.7% of his passes, and the struggles were laid bare on a forgettable Thursday night against the Raiders.

As much as Payton bristles about media storylines and huffs about tempo questions, the Broncos went 25 minutes without a first down against Las Vegas.

Nix was frenetic in a clean pocket, failed to take easy scramble yards, and looked like the mental ask was limiting his physical gifts. And let’s be honest, had the Broncos lost to Kansas City, the conversation this week would have centered on what’s wrong with Nix and Payton.

The narrative changed last Sunday because of how Nix played, who he played, and what it looked like.

This is an offense that can work. Payton remains a magnet for criticism because of his play-calling, but he dialed up huge gains to Pat Bryant and Troy Franklin that were brilliant. In doing so, it restored Nix’s confidence.

Go back and watch that final drive. There is no way Nix connects on back-to-back third down conversions with Courtland Sutton without his third quarter momentum. And it is impossible to imagine success on his biggest pass without the coach and the quarterback reading from the same pages of the playbook.

When watching film, Payton likes to ask the question: Was the result because of the play or the player?

It was clearly a quarterback drive and quarterback play that beat the Chiefs. On second-and-8 from the 47-yard line, Nix looked left to a completely covered Franklin. It screamed for a conservative decision. Instead, he lofted the equivalent of a back-shoulder pass for a 32-yard gain. It was a perfect throw.

So, who is right about the offense? Nix or Payton?

Both are. The Broncos need a smooth pace of operation to help the quarterback. And they require sprinkles of tempo to get the engine revving.

So many questions were answered in one half of football. Beginning Sunday night at Washington, if the Broncos want to still be playing in February, Nix and Payton must show it was not an aberration.

The team has ruled the All-Pro returner out for a second straight game, after Mims suffered a concussion on a kickoff return in the fourth quarter of a 44-24 win over Dallas on Oct. 26. Head coach Sean Payton clarified that special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi was trying to send in Tyler Badie to sub in late for Mims with less than five minutes left in the fourth quarter, but “somehow the communication failed,” and Badie ended up entering the game for RJ Harvey instead.

Mims sustained the concussion after a 26-yard return on the play. The receiver has made progress through the concussion protocol this week, and was designated as a limited participant in Tuesday’s practice and in Wednesday’s walkthrough. But he didn’t clear the final stages in time for a Thursday night matchup and will now miss Week 10’s AFC West divisional showdown with the Raiders.

The receiver has seen his role fluctuate throughout his third season in Payton’s system, but he was an integral contributor in Denver’s Week 7 comeback win over the Giants. Mims has 22 catches for 234 yards and two total touchdowns from scrimmage in eight games.

Cornerback Pat Surtain II and tight end Nate Adkins are also set to miss their second straight games after not practicing this week. Reserve safety P.J. Locke, meanwhile, is questionable with a neck injury.

HOF semifinalists: Mike Shanahan and Dan Reeves are into the Pro Football Hall of Fame red zone once again.

The pair of former Broncos coaches is among nine semifinalists being considered for enshrinement in the 2026 Hall of Fame class.

A blue ribbon committee tasked with identifying a coaching finalist whittled its list from 12 to nine. The committee is set to meet Nov. 18 to determine one finalist. That finalist then goes forward to a vote of the full PFHOF committee and must receive 80% of the vote in order to be enshrined.

Mike Holmgren, another of the nine finalists, was last year’s finalist but came up short of the required support from the full committee.

Everybody else may be waiting at least another year, however. The perceived heavy favorite is six-time Super Bowl champion Bill Belichick, who is eligible for the first time.

Shanahan and the late Reeves are no strangers to waiting when it comes to the Hall.

Shanahan has made it well into the process four straight years, though the process has changed during that time.

The winningest coach in Broncos history, Shanahan is a two-time Super Bowl champion and coached Denver from 1995-2008.

“He should be in,” current Broncos head coach and fellow Eastern Illinois alumn Sean Payton said last month. “He’s going to get in. He needs to get in sooner than later. Two championships, the coaching tree, the history as a coordinator and then as a head coach. I don’t even want to compare him against others that are in or candidates to be in, but his impact, beyond just two Super Bowls, his impact on the game offensively, having played against his teams, it����ap time.”

Besides Belichick, Shanahan is the only coach eligible for the Hall who has won back-to-back Super Bowls and hasn’t been inducted.

Reeves, who died in 2022, was Denver’s coach from 1981-92 and won 110 games in Denver. He later coached the New York Giants and Atlanta and his 190 total regular-season wins are 10th in NFL history.

In a year, this $175 million project will be complete, and the new team headquarters the Broncos have touted since 2023 will be buzzing with the operations of a rising NFL franchise. For now, it is a hunk of wood and steel, hammers echoing across the grass at Broncos Park. But Payton still finds himself mesmerized on occasion. Then he’ll snap back to watching tape of a championship foundation he’s trying to construct himself.

In March, general manager George Paton put up an easel in his office . The idea: Let visiting free agents see what’s coming, in all its sandstone glory.

“I know they’re trying to leverage that,” team president Damani Leech told The Denver Post, “as much as possible.”

Come May 2026, the Broncos will finally see the finished jewel of the early Walton-Penner ownership era. It is on schedule, a remarkably quick undertaking from its announcement in November 2023. It is on budget, thanks in part to the cost maneuvering of senior VP of construction Amy Dee. And it is a short-term lift in league standing for a franchise that, as Payton said, has become an “attractive spot” for players and coaches alike.

Broncos owners transforming Denver into rising NFL power, from new facility to stadium decision and deep roster

But this plan went far beyond Payton, Paton or any current era. Two years ago, when Leech and ownership first pitched a new facility to staff, they played a clip of an old piece that went inside the Broncos' current business headquarters, which opened in 1990. Late head coach Dan Reeves was in the video wearing a 1980s-era sweater. A voiceover lauded a state-of-the-art film room that, of course, used physical film.

The message was clear: The game and the league have evolved. And Leech, Dee, and ownership envisioned a facility that can itself evolve with NFL generations to come.

"How does a workplace -- and, or, football space to an extent — keep reinventing themselves? Because if you don’t, then it����ap just going to be stagnant," Dee told The Post.

"... We’re building something ... that����ap going to be, for decades, part of a changing organization.”

Leech knew Greg Penner and Carrie Walton Penner were "curious about" constructing a new team headquarters soon after he was named team president in August 2022. Research began from there, with Leech and constituents touring NFL facilities in Miami, Dallas and Minnesota, as well as newly-constructed NBA headquarters for the Golden State Warriors (opened in 2021) and San Antonio Spurs (2023).

In time, plans formed for a space that would consolidate business operations and football staff. Leech noted that 70 Broncos team employees are currently based at Empower Field, 20 miles north of Dove Valley, because space is too tight at the current headquarters. Players themselves have to walk across the parking lot from the weight room to the locker room, and across practice fields to the indoor facility.

One of design partner HOK's first steps, Leech said, was to measure the number of steps players needed to take to move between the three areas. They discovered "massive spikes" compared to a half-dozen other facilities across the league.

Renck: Peyton Manning on potential for Bo Nix sophomore slump: ‘He’s made of the right stuff’

“The biggest was, 'How do we create a space that has the most minimal player path of travel for our team?'" Leech said.

A small detail, it might seem. A large one, when added over the course of a season. And the Walton-Penner group has invested many millions of dollars in such small details since taking over the franchise.

"It����ap a great credit to Greg and Carrie and their vision," Payton said. "Not just short-term, but for years to come."

Dee was hired to oversee construction a few months after the project's announcement. The organization felt it needed an in-house captain after previously routing operations through an outside agency. Dee was immediately faced with a slew of budgetary questions.

She came from a job as the chief construction officer at Powder Mountain, a ski resort on top of a mountain in Utah. She expanded Netflix campuses into Europe and South America. This facility in Denver was far from her largest undertaking.

"I've built a lot of one-offs," Dee reflected. "And so, I do like building things that are very unique."

Dee's greatest impact has been to fine-tune project musts to stay under budget, even as new administration under President Donald Trump has enacted a range of tariffs on imported goods, . Dee hasn't hedged on preferred materials, but has had to change suppliers to maneuver around increased costs.

"I certainly don't have a budget for tariffs," Dee said. "Let's put it that way."

Overall, though, the Broncos are sourcing a "good percentage" of materials from Colorado-based distributors, Dee said. Ownership, Dee and Leech said, pushed for construction costs to contribute to the local economy.

"We want this to feel like it����ap of the place -- it����ap of here, when you walk in the building," Leech said. "It����ap not just, 'This is the Denver Broncos,' but this is also a building that����ap in Colorado."

Beyond that, Dee has also implemented a flexible interior design. Much of the facility will be built with modular walls and easily movable weight room equipment to make sure the foundation can last as long as possible.

How Broncos’ Nik Bonitto added finesse, power to speed-rush: ‘It’s going to be very spooky’

"Does the outside need to change? You kinda build that to where it����ap a classic style, it����ap very Colorado, it’ll live forever," Dee said. "But if we can change the inside, why wouldn’t you just keep using the same building, right? So, make it adaptable.”

On July 31, a day before the highest beam was placed on the facility, Penner and Walton Penner tightened up hard hats and climbed rung-over-rung roughly 20 stories up the crane. They strolled out on the catwalk of the counter boom, and Walton Penner snapped a picture of a lofty view. She texted it to Payton.

"I just said, 'No thank you,'" Payton grinned.

The future lay 200 feet below, a whole new world for Payton -- and years beyond.

Correction (10:32 a.m., Sept. 2, 2025): Due to a misinterpretation in an interview with Amy Dee, Broncos senior VP of construction, a quote that previously appeared in this story was misconstrued. That quote — "We're building a monument" — has since been removed.

The winningest coach in Broncos history was passed over by a blue ribbon committee in charge of selecting a coaching candidate as a finalist for the 2025 class.

The Hall is the lone finalist for consideration by the full selection committee. Holmgren was picked over Shanahan, fellow former Denver coach Dan Reeves and six others.

Shanahan, of course, took over as Broncos head coach in 1995 and led the franchise to Super Bowl victories in 1997 and 1998. At the helm until 2008, Shanahan compiled a Broncos-record 138 regular-season victories.

He was fired following the 2008 season and then spent 2010-13 as the head coach in Washington, moving his career regular-season win total to 170.

In addition to Shanahan’s own coaching acumen — he is the only coach with back-to-back Super Bowl wins eligible for the Hall who hasn’t been inducted — his influence on offense continues to be felt widely around the NFL.

“About 65 percent of the league is running his offense,” former Broncos Pro Bowler Mark Schlereth told The Denver Post recently. “And it����ap amazing to think of all the innovations that are directly credited to Mike.”

His direct coaching tree includes several sitting head coaches like his son, Kyle (San Francisco), Matt LaFleur (Green Bay), Sean McVay (L.A. Rams), Mike McDaniel (Miami) and Raheem Morris (Atlanta), other coordinators and play-callers as well as former Broncos head coach and Super Bowl 50 champion Gary Kubiak.

Holmgren won Super Bowl XXXI with Green Bay and then lost to Shanahan’s Broncos the following year. In a coaching career split between the Packers and Seattle, Holmgren compiled a 161-111 regular-season record and three Super Bowl appearances.

“It����ap easy,” Payton said Monday. “It����ap all there in front of you.”

Shanahan, the winningest coach in Broncos history and back-to-back Super Bowl champion, is one of nine semifinalists slated to be considered Tuesday when the Coach Blue-Ribbon Committee said it was next set to meet.

According to a news release last month announcing the nine semifinalists, the committee, “will discuss the Semifinalists at length … to select one Finalist for the full Selection Committee to consider for possible election with the new class of enshrinees.”

That means whichever of the nine semifinalists is selected as a finalist will be alone on the doorstep of the Hall, with only approval by the full committee remaining before enshrinement.

Shanahan is joined among semifinalists by fellow former Broncos coach Dan Reeves as well as Mike Holmgren, Tom Coughlin, Chuck Knox, Marty Schottenheimer, George Seifert, Clark Shaughnessy and Bill Arnsparger.

Shanahan, of course, served as Denver’s head coach from 1995-08 and also was the head coach of the Los Angeles Raiders (1988-89) and in Washington (2010-13) for a total of 20 seasons. He won 170 regular-season games and finished the 1997 and ’98 seasons as a Super Bowl champion with Denver. His Broncos tenure included a 138-86 mark and postseason appearances in seven of 14 seasons.

Shanahan’s impact is still felt around the NFL today as teams continue to use the zone-based running system he helped popularize in the 1990s. His extensive coaching tree includes several current head coaches like his son Kyle (San Francisco), Sean McVay (L.A. Rams), Matt LaFleur (Green Bay), Mike McDaniel (Miami) and Raheem Morris (Atlanta), along with former coaches like Gary Kubiak and numerous assistants and coordinators.

“I’ve had a long friendship with him,” Payton said of Shanahan. “What he’s accomplished in our game: He has two Super Bowl championships. He’s been behind, I would say, the minds of so many coaches working right now. I’d say almost a third of the league at one point has been impacted by Mike. Not only the coaching tree, I’m talking about the offensive tree.

“When I got into the league, there were two or three teams that you studied and Denver was one of them. We’re sitting here in 2024 and we’re looking at a guy — a candidate — who, quite honestly, has a lot better credentials than maybe some others who have gone before him as coaches. He was one of the guys. Extremely intelligent. And then the Super Bowls, the quarterbacks, the success and all those other things.

“I don’t know when the vote is or how that all unfolds but his candidacy, for someone like myself, it����ap easy.”

Shanahan and Payton each attended college at Eastern Illinois, but Payton on Monday was quick to put their shared alma mater aside. Shanahan’s candidacy, he said, is about facts.

“It����ap all there right in front of you,” Payton said. “Then go ahead and look back at the last — just take the last six coaches that have gone in. Just use that number and then throw their numbers at Mike and their accomplishments.

“I think that����ap a simple way to look at it and arrive at the right decision.”

����apEO and owner Greg Penner this summer also expressed his belief that Shanahan deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.

“We totally respect the process that the Hall of Fame voters have, but we think Coach Shanahan is deserving of a spot there,” Penner said when the club broke ground on its new headquarters and training facility. “When you look at the impact he’s had on the game with — I believe he’s the only coach who has two successive Super Bowls that����ap not in the Hall. Then you look at his coaching tree of six former assistants that are current head coaches.

“So, it’s hard to argue with that track record.”

Though the committee is set to narrow down its list to one finalist Tuesday, it����ap not clear whether the group will immediately inform the finalist selected or make any kind of immediate public announcement regarding the decision.

Forget Travis Kelce.

Shake it off.

Shake it off.

“You’ve got to get back on the horse,” the former Broncos Super Bowl kicker told me Monday as we were still processing the final seconds of Those Lucky Son of a Guns 16, Denver 14.

“(I’d tell him), ‘Hey, I know you’ll do better next time.’ What can you say? He’s got a tough assignment. He’s out there battling on the offensive line, and he gets bull-rushed. To be honest, I’m surprised this doesn’t happen more.”

Like most of ����apountry, spent Sunday afternoon watching Denver-KC from the couch. And like the rest of us, he spent some of the rest of the day picking his jaw off the floor.

“I literally yelled out, ‘Oh, no, you’ve got to be kidding me!'” said Treadwell, Dan Reeves’ kicker from 1989-92 and a Pro Bowler in 1990. “Because that was, essentially, the new extra point.”

Alas, he witnessed the left side of Denver’s protection unit go down like a row of dominoes, helping the Chiefs to block what should’ve been a game-winning, Arrowhead-crushing, 35-yard field goal by Wil Lutz.

“Field goal kicking is so good now that we just almost take it for granted,” Treadwell said. “And these things still happen. You’ve still got to go out there and run through the process. You’ve got to get a good snap, a good hold …”

Treadwell walked a few miles in Lutz’s cleats, straight to the nearest bottle of aspirin. Despite a career 77.1% make rate in the NFL, Lutz’s miss brought back No. 9’s memories of a wild day in September 1990, when Buffalo swatted away a gimmie 24-yard field goal try and Bills star Cornelius Bennett ran it back 80 yards for a TD.

Thanks to YouTube, Treadwell’s children can re-live that moment anytime they like. Especially the parts where holder (and future Broncos championship coach) Gary Kubiak accidentally face-plants himself in the old Orchard Park turf,

“My kids’ reaction to it was, ‘Oh, you got it blocked,” the former Broncos kicker chuckled. “Then they go, ‘Wow, you were pretty fast, Dad.'”

In truth, though, The Forsyth Flop more closely resembled the wacky ending

Long story short, John Elway drove the hosts, who trailed 17-16, to the Raiders’ 30-yard line with six seconds left. Treadwell trotted on to take care of the rest from 48 yards out. Or so he thought.

“It’s the worst sound in field-goal kicking — the double thump, the pop-pop!” he explained. “(The first pop is off) your foot and then (the second pop when) it hits their hands.”

A wave of silver and black had amassed over the snapper and one Raider defender, James FitzPatrick, a 6-foot-8, 305-pound lineman, somehow got a paw up high enough to deflect the attempt.

“That one stung because it was a friend that had blocked (an extra point earlier), Scott Davis,” Treadwell recalled. “We were college seniors together over in the Hula Bowl, and (he was a) great guy, and doggone it, he got me.

“We looked at it on film and it was one hand in this sea of hands up. And I had thought I’d hit a pretty good ball. Who knows? Maybe I hit it a smidge low. Maybe he’d positioned his hand in the perfect spot. That was probably the closest parallel (to Sunday).”

Fun fact: Those ’91 Broncos . And they won five of six to close out the season, notching an AFC West title and a Divisional round playoff win over Houston, 26-24. That last one ended on a game-winning, 28-yard Treadwell field goal to cap a 2:07 Elway masterpiece that became known as

“It does mess with you mentally,” Treadwell said of those game-ending stuffs. “Like anything, it makes you gun-shy for a second. The best advice I would give (them) is to get out and do some live reps, against live pressure, and I’m sure that’s what (Broncos coach) Sean Payton will have them do.

“They were ready. They did everything right. The Chiefs just did it a smidge better on that play, and doggone it, it hurts ����apountry more because we had this.”

Haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate. But the music in Treadwell’s mind says it’s gonna be all right. For one thing, the hardest fortnight of the season is over and done with. For another, — vs. Atlanta, at Las Vegas, vs. Cleveland, vs. Indianapolis — are all immensely winnable.

“I’m sure for Forsyth, it’ll be better next time,” Treadwell said. “That’s all I would say (to him as a kicker is),  ‘Hey, I got you, you got me, we’ll be better next time.’

“It’s all you can do.”

Shake it off. Like the lady said, you got to.

The coach’s wing of the Pro Football Hall of Fame cannot be taken seriously until Mike Shanahan is in it. The former Broncos legend advanced to the group of nine semifinalists on Thursday, with the blue-ribbon committee meeting on Nov. 19 to select one for Hall of Fame consideration.

If that is not Shanahan, a man with 170 career victories, what are we even doing?

This dance is demeaning and confusing. Are the voters waiting for AI ChatGPT to explain how logic has avoided their discussions for years?

Shanahan was a Hall of Famer the day he retired. He was a Hall of Famer on Thursday. And if the committee has any sense of justice, he will be recommended for the Hall of Fame next month.

It has been 11 years since Shanahan patrolled the sidelines with his steely glare. And yet immortality continues to give him the side eye.

For years, ����apountry lamented their stars receiving the shaft for football’s highest honor. Then a parade of players got in, most notably John Elway, Terrell Davis, Steve Atwater, Shannon Sharpe, Gary Zimmerman, Champ Bailey and John Lynch.

Who do you think coached them in Denver? Ted Lasso?

Somebody, please explain how Bill Cowher and Tony Dungy, among others, received their gold jackets while Shanahan waits like he is in boarding Group C on Southwest Airlines.

Other than the backlog of candidates for one spot, there is no valid argument against his inclusion. Shanahan’s case, boiled down to the basics, rests on a simple number: 2.

He won back-to-back Super Bowl titles in 1997 and ’98. There are seven coaches who have pulled off this feat: Vince Lombardi, Don Shula, Chuck Noll, Jimmy Johnson, Bill Belichick, Andy Reid and Shanahan. The first four reside in Canton and Belichick and Reid will be elected the second they are eligible.

And yet Shanahan is out here waiting. As a baseball Hall of Fame voter, I can appreciate the challenge of measuring excellence. But the beauty in baseball is that we vote in a vacuum, even mailing in our ballots. And the writer can choose to make it public (I always have). Football requires a discussion among committee members. That creates a political process of stumping for candidates that lacks transparency and creates suspicion.

It has already been advanced in some quarters that Mike Holmgren will get the nod in Thursday’s group which includes Shanahan, Bill Arnsparger, Tom Coughlin, Chuck Knox, Dan Reeves, Marty Schottenheimer, George Seifert and Clark Shaughnessy.

Holmgren won a single Super Bowl, and as the biggest favorite since Super Bowl III, lost to – you guessed it – Shanahan. Of all the candidates, only Coughlin and Seifert boast multiple Super Bowl wins. Neither did it in consecutive seasons. Only seven Hall of Fame coaches have won more games than Shanahan. But let����ap not pretend he was a compiler. He set a record (46-10) for most wins during a three-year period with the Broncos.

He was an app before we even thought of that. His version of the West Coast offense litters playbooks around the league. Sean Payton has admittedly stolen plays from him that he had never seen before.

“About 65 percent of the league is running his offense,” former Broncos Pro Bowler Mark Schlereth said. “And it����ap amazing to think of all the innovations that are directly credited to Mike.”

Fullback Howard Griffth explained that Shanahan implemented a variation of the I and offset I-formation, resulting in “a power run game employing the zone blocking scheme” that manifested into 14 offenses that ranked in the top 5 during his career as a coach and coordinator.

And while far too many legends have coaching trees that look like scraggly branches — looking at you Belichick — Shanahan has inspired a generation of terrific bosses from Sean McVay and Matt LaFleur to Mike McDaniel, his son Kyle and Gary Kubiak, who guided the Broncos to the Super Bowl 50 title.

Greatness requires brilliance against the best. Homecoming opponents don’t pave the road to Canton. Shanahan owns a 22-17 head-to-head record against nine coaches in the Hall of Fame, and knocked out three in the playoffs (Cowher, Parcells, Shula).

Detractors lean heavily into Shanahan’s lack of success without Elway and his run in Washington. But let����ap be fair. He reached the playoffs four times without him, losing in the AFC Championship Game with Jake Plummer, and made a magical run with rookie Robert Griffin III in Washington.

The idea that his case must be made is embarrassing. It is hard to find a play-caller who doesn’t want to be like Mike. So, when Nov. 19 rolls around, I implore this committee to please make this wrong right.

The next Broncos quarterback already resides in Colorado — Nikola Jokić. Jokić is a great passer, he always finds the open man. He understands passing lanes, and is a team player.  He’s tall, so he can see over the line. Jokić makes his teammates better. Quarterbacks need to be leaders; Jokić is a leader. It’s true that he is slow, but he is big and would be hard to bring down.

After Jokić wins his third NBA MVP, second championship, and second playoff MVP, he will be looking for a new challenge: Denver Broncos quarterback.  I can’t think of anyone better.

Tom Kumar, Westminster

No matter the combo, coach and QB must mesh

I do not understand the blather about what the Broncos should do at QB. It is plain to me based on their past experience with coach/QB. The QB has to be compatible with the coach or vice versa.

Dan Reeves was a great coach, but he and Elway did not mesh. Good, but no cigar (Super Bowl). Brought in a coach that could work with John and bam, Super Bowls. You have your coach, pick the best one out there that Sean can work with, or fire Sean and start over with best QB available.

Gerald J Dilley, Castle Pines

The hopeful split on Ukraine

Re: “Aid for Ukraine, Israel advances,” April 20 news story

So most Republicans and Democrats in the house voted for aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. The Republican ‘Freedom Caucus’ members voted against as did some fringe Democrats.

Is this, dare I say it, an evolving of the center? Of members from both sides putting the country ahead of their party?

Hopefully, we will see more of this.

Stan Moore, Lakewood

Times change some things

Decades ago: “I’m not a member of an organized political party; I’m a Democrat.” — Will Rogers

Today: “We’re not members of an organized political party; we’re Republicans.” — Some of our Republican friends.

James T. Watson, Highlands Ranch

Keep the trains drug free

Every time I ride the train is a scary experience for me and other passengers, because of the dozen drug users that are commonly our companions. They keep bothering passengers and the last time I rode there was fighting onboard.

I feel like drugs are out of control on Denver trains. How is it that those poor souls are able to get high so much? Why aren’t the authorities doing something about this? Maybe it����ap time to solve the issue for good and keep them away from the train so that passengers can feel safe.

Pablo Garcia, Golden

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Old memories: For those of us old enough to remember the 1980s, Broncos-Browns was appointment viewing once upon a time. This was, of course, before Art Modell committed crimes against humanity by moving the Browns to Baltimore and turning them into the Ravens. The fumble. The drive. Clay Matthews. John Elway. Bernie Kosar. Dan Reeves. Marty Schottenheimer. Sad, sad Marty Schottenheimer. It’s hard not to think about all those moments — all Broncos triumphs, mind you — whenever these two teams come together … and then curse Modell’s name for ruining it all.

Garett vs. Garrett: How do you make the Browns defense look ordinary? It starts by neutralizing superstar defensive end Myles Garrett, the No. 1 overall draft pick who entered Sunday’s game as the front runner for NFL defensive player of the year. That’s exactly what veteran left tackle Garett Bolles did in the first half, holding the pass rusher to zero QB hits and just one tackle for loss. Granted, head coach Sean Payton made sure Bolles had plenty of help with chips and double teams. But it was an impressive half all the same — punctuated by Bolles’ pancake block as a pulling tackle on a 10-yard Javonte Williams run.

Is this football? Or no?: The most difficult job in pro sports? Being a hard-hitting NFL defender. If it wasn’t clear after all the flags thrown at Kareem Jackson’s feet earlier this season (and, yes, some were legit), it certainly was after Sunday’s third quarter. First, there was the unnecessary roughness penalty on P.J. Locke that extended a Browns touchdown drive. OK, fine. Maybe an argument could be made there. But the roughing the passer flag on Baron Browning? Let’s face it, that doesn’t get thrown if Dorian Thompson-Robinson isn’t writhing on the turf in the immediate aftermath. That it took the official several seconds to throw it made that obvious.

Team Takeaway: Of course, in the ultimate show of football karma, that last flag didn’t end up mattering, even if the impact of Browning’s hit did (DTR didn’t return). Why? Because defensive tackle D.J. Jones blew up a reverse run two plays later and recovered the fumble in Browns territory — setting off an Empower Field explosion with another Denver touchdown soon thereafter. All told, the Denver D came up with three takeaways Sunday, with Locke getting a measure of redemption with a strip sack of his own. The Broncos’ total through the last four games: 15. And now they’re 6-5 and right back in the playoff hunt. To quote an in-game texter: Ball. Don’t. Lie.

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