Schefter: Denver Broncos hired Vic Fangio to win in 2019, not 2021
Jan 9, 2019, 12:45 PM | Updated: Jan 10, 2019, 1:51 am
Certainly, the Denver Broncos have areas to address on their roster, Adam Schefter said on Wednesday. They’ve got to “figure out certain things” and they’ve got to “improve in certain areas.”
But the ESPN NFL Insider told “Pritchard and Cecil” that the Broncos believe the “tag team” of newly hired head coach Vic Fangio and offensive mind Gary Kubiak is the match for the club to compete right away after back-to-back losing seasons.
“They’re not hiring Vic Fangio to win in 2021. They’re hiring Vic Fangio to win in 2019,” Schefter said moments after breaking the news of Fangio’s hiring.
Broncos general manager John Elway is “not interested in rebuilding,” Schefter said, and the front office boss eluded to as much in his season-ending press conference last week.
“To me, a rebuild sounds like an excuse, and I’m not going to make any excuses. We’re going to bust our tails to try to get better, try to get back to where we’re competitive and do it next year,” Elway said, adding that the club’s “standards are still the same.”
And with Fangio’s extensive resume of strong defenses and Kubiak’s offensive mind, Schefter said the Broncos believe they have a “situation that’s a home run.”
“He wants to win every year,” Schefter said of Elway. “They believe this gives them the best chance moving forward, that this is a situation where, basically, you’ve got what they believe is the right brain trust to lead this team forward.”
The Broncos turn to Fangio following the second-worst two-year stretch for the franchise since the 1970 NFL merger, winning just 11 of 32 games during the past two seasons.
Fangio, a football coaching veteran of nearly four decades (including 32 in the NFL and 19 as a defensive coordinator), led the Chicago Bears to the league’s top-ranked scoring defense (283 points) in 2018 while coming up third in yards against (4,795). Comparatively, the Broncos ranked 13th in scoring defense (349) and 11th in yards against (5,842).
Kubiak, whose move back to the sideline was hinted at by Elway last week, would ideally boost an otherwise anemic Broncos offense that ranked 24th in points (329) and 19th in yards (5,602) in 2018.
It would be the first time Kubiak coached since stepping away from the game after the 2016 season for health reasons. Six months later, he joined Elway as a senior personnel adviser, taking on a bigger role ahead of the 2018 offseason.
Follow digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @JohnnyHart7.
