Broncos Country, relax; the team now has a coach who knows what he’s doing

What Broncos Country needs right now is a Mr. Miyagi.

Because everyone needs to stop and breathe for a moment. Get off the roller coaster. Forget about the frenetic pace of the day and the unceasing news cycle that the NFL hath wrought over these many years and go wash the car. Wax on, wax off. Breathe in. Breathe out.

Stop fretting about whether the team has all of its coaches in place in February, for crying out loud.

February!

Do they start NFL seasons in February now? Do NFL teams even practice in the two weeks following the Super Bowl? Last I checked, they don’t.

This isn’t the XFL or even the USFL. They don’t play a game until September. They can’t even gather the entire team until the first Monday in April — and that’s two weeks earlier than the rest of the league because, once again, the Broncos have a new head coach.

No need to worry about the coach-hiring timeline, @CecilLammey & I say. Because the only ones who lose if the Broncos don’t make a formal D-coordinator announcement before the Combine are media. Sean Payton & the team are doing just fine. We discussed this on Orange & Blue Today. pic.twitter.com/bf8jsWQlTH

— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) February 23, 2023

And, by the way, I’ll let you in on a little secret.

Come closer. I’ll whisper.

Or maybe I’ll shout:

THE HEAD COACH KNOWS WHAT HE’S DOING!!!!!!

Yes, the last six seasons have been dreadful. Six consecutive sub-.500 seasons under four head coaches, including the brief-but-memorable fortnight of interim head coach Jerry Rosburg.

But you don’t have to be concerned about this now.

This will be Sean Payton’s 17th season as a head coach. He’s seen almost everything that can be thrown at someone in the position. Shoot, his first season on the job was with a team just months from being relocated after one of the most devastating hurricanes to strike the United States.

In the midst of lingering crisis, Payton got a team not just ready to play … but to win. And it responded with a deeper playoff run than ever before in Saints history.

Fret not, Broncos Country. Payton’s in control of what’s going on. The staff is coming together.

16 with 5 to go. We'll fill you in when we're ready.

— Sean Payton (@SeanPayton) February 23, 2023

But that being said, there’s something deeper to the angst in some circles.

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It’s not just a form of football PTSD for six lousy seasons and three failed coaching stewardships for which the highly-accomplished Payton bears as much responsibility as the mail carrier for the contents of a letter.

It cuts to how we have reached a point where urgency has become absurdity.

Sometimes, I think the worst thing that happened for society is social media. Because it accelerated the growing impatience we collectively possess.

When I was young, we marveled at the microwave. And we thought it was the cat’s meow that all we had to do was wait until 19 or 49 minutes past the hour to get all the relevant scores on CNN Headline News’ sports report. Then, if we missed that, you could flip over to ESPN, which ran the scores at the bottom of the screen at 28 and 58 minutes past the hour.

And, oh, the “Ten-Minute Ticker!” You watched an NFL game on NBC, and you never had to wait more than 10 minutes for score updates around the league!

We thought this was amazing.

Yes, we were a simple people.

It seems ancient these days.

People want everything NOW. We are trapped in the moment in a way never before seen. And at the moment, one can give into the hysteria.

But let’s just take some deep breaths.

The first preseason game isn’t for nearly six months. The Broncos won’t even have their schedule for another two-and-a-half months.

And now, they have someone in whom you can trust in charge. Someone who didn’t always produce winning seasons … but did so more often than not. And someone whose competence in the role ensured that the New Orleans Saints, woebegone for most of their first four decades, never had a non-competitive season on his watch.

New Orleans was never worse than 7-9 with Payton. Denver hasn’t been better than 7-9 since Gary Kubiak stepped aside on Jan. 2, 2017.

So, it’s a different world now.

Some parts of Broncos Country are struggling to adjust. I understand.

But it’s OK. You can sleep well and free of fretting that the head coach won’t be up for the job. Payton’s long since proven his bona fides.

The Broncos might not win a championship on Payton’s watch. But the team is in secure hands. Take a breath and go for a walk on a crisp winter’s day. Or watch the Nuggets, Avs or Rapids. Or follow CU recruiting. You can do all of these things because you can trust that Payton will have things ready to go, just as he always has in 16 previous seasons as a head coach.

Let him work. Meanwhile, just breathe. Or paint the fence. Maybe sand the floor? After all, Payton’s got this.

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