Interim Denver Broncos coach Jerry Rosburg is doing the job his way

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — If you were handed the keys to a pro football team as its head coach, would you try to conform to someone else’s notion of what you should do?

For that matter, if you were put in charge of any significant operation, would you do that? Would you try to be someone else’s idea of a good boss? And perhaps not be true to yourself?

Or would you do it your way?

The answer seems obvious from a distance. In actual practice, it becomes more complicated. Whether consciously or not, we often fall victim to wanting to fit within a box of expectation set by others.

And we shouldn’t.

Because there are few things we regret more in life than not following what our souls and consciences dictated. We don’t regret attempting to fit into a template defined by others. We regret not being true to ourselves.

Jerry Rosburg, a first-time head coach at the age of 67 and a veteran of 40 previous seasons as an assistant coach, is choosing to coach without regret.

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“FOR WHAT IS A MAN, WHAT HAS HE GOT?
IF NOT HIMSELF, THEN HE HAS NAUGHT.”

Rosburg’s stint is likely to be short — perhaps as brief as 12 days, if the NFL flexes the Broncos’ Week 18 game with the Los Angeles Chargers to Jan. 7.

But it will be eventful. And true to his vision.

The first calls on the staff’s composition were his. He wanted better from special teams and the offensive line. So, he dismissed two coaches. He settled into Mike Mallory’s special-teams meetings, offering his counsel and suggestions for a unit that ranked dead last.

It was a unit that could have used Rosburg’s wisdom long before.

“Mike is doing all of the dirty work. He’s drawing up the schemes, he’s dealing with the depth charts, and he’s organizing the practices and doing all of that.

“Then I go and do my thing because I can.”

His “thing” is being involved in, well, everything.

Work on blocking drills with tight ends and the offensive line? Sure. Rosburg is the head coach. It’s his prerogative.

And in his first two practice days on the job, he did precisely that during the individual period of practice open to media viewing.

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“TO SAY THE THINGS HE TRULY FEELS,
AND NOT THE WORDS OF ONE WHO KNEELS.”

When Rosburg worked with tight ends Wednesday, he wasn’t a bystander. He actively demonstrated and took part in drills.

“I was seeking out a little contact,” Rosburg said. “It’s been a while. Tight ends are really important to our run game. I went and watched the quarterbacks for a while, but I kind of bounce around.

“The beauty of this position now is that I can pretty much do whatever I want. So, I’m doing whatever I want.”

Rosburg tweaked the practice schedule. He moved special teams up in the session.

And playcalling could look different, too. Rosburg didn’t divulge who would end up calling Denver’s offensive plays. It was former head coach Nathaniel Hackett for nine games. Then, Klint Kubiak handled the bulk of the work. And when Rosburg went through the possibilities, he named three other coaches, including offensive coordinator Justin Outten.

Then there’s one other possibility: the man in the mirror, to whom Rosburg is true.

“Maybe I’ll call a play,” he said with a twinkle in his eye.

“This is my chance. I can do whatever I want. Maybe I’ll call a play or two to enhance my resume.”

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“THE RECORD SHOWS,
I TOOK THE BLOWS,
AND DID IT MY WAY.”

Those blows may be with the force of a red-and-yellow sledgehammer at Arrowhead Stadium on New Year’s Day. Denver lugs a 14-game losing streak against the Kansas City Chiefs into the game. Six of those losses came at Kansas City’s iconic, half-century-old stadium at a suburban highway junction.

In those six defeats, the Broncos averaged a meager 13.3 points per game. Kansas City averaged almost twice as many — 26.5.

“We have a serious gap that we have to close. Our opponent is clearly ahead of us,” Rosburg said. “They haven’t gone through what we have gone through.

“We need to close that gap. Quite frankly, I need to close that gap. I’m trying to bring myself up to speed.”

And while Rosburg waited four decades to finally be a head coach, the NFL won’t wait for him to find parity with Andy Reid. Kansas City’s veteran of 24 seasons as an NFL head coach is a sure-fire Hall of Famer. Reid’s team has six consecutive division titles and is bidding for a fifth consecutive appearance in a conference-championship game.

The cynic would tell Rosburg, “Gooooood luck” with a soupçon of sarcasm.

He doesn’t have time for that. He’s focused on doing what he can, in the manner he sees fit with what little time he has before Sunday.

“The clock is ticking. This much I know,” he said. “They’re not waiting for us. This league waits for no one. It rolls on.”

And it has no time to pause for those who don’t have the confidence to do the job the best way they know how.

Win, lose or draw on Sunday and in the weekend that follows, Rosburg’s long-awaited chance will be defined by one thing above all: He will be true to himself and what he believes is the best way to guide a team.

Rosburg will do what he wants. He’ll do it his way.

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