Broncos can't Hackett and Russ Can't Cook

The Broncos won the off-season according to most "expert" writers with the lowest grade being a B+.  Unfortunately winning off the field doesn't equal wins on it for this 2022 Broncos team.  We all know the off-season main move that made the Broncos considered one of the top 10 favorites for the Super Bowl, Russell Wilson.  Or is it DangeRuss or Mr. Unlimited or some other corny ass nickname.  Yes, Russell Wilson is corny, we all know it.  He suited up for pre-season games like a youth football player that was not eligible to play because he didn't have enough practices in.  He makes social media posts and does cringe things like practice the high fives of entering the stadium.  But enough about the off-field stuff about Russ, let's talk about what Russ has been cooking!

Trash!  Yes, Russ has cooked up a hearty plate of crap, trash, poop, shit, whatever you feel it is best called.  We can blame it on poor Offensive Line play or the 3rd injury that has been brought up in only six games.  I'd like to blame part of it on Wilson.  He does have the 30th rated completion percentage and only has 5 passing TDs which is ranked T-23rd, his QBR is 25th and Rating is 23rd, but despite being ranked in the bottom 3rd in key QB stats, the majority of the blame rests with Nathaniel Hackett.

Hackett came to the Broncos and was part of the reason the Broncos won the off-season.  He brought charm and a cheesy smile from the Cheese Heads of Green Bay where he served as OC-INO (Offensive Coordinator - In Name Only, yes that's a little shot at MAGAts RINO nonsense) under Matt LaFleur.  Hackett had some success in 2017 in Jacksonville having the leagues best rushing attack, but struggled in 2018 being fired after 11 games due to having one of the Bottom 6 in scoring and yardage.  But let's not ignore the fact that Hackett was offensive coordinator under Doug Marrone in both Buffalo and Jacksonville.  Marrone was a run happy head coach that had his hands in the call playing of Hackett. 

This season's Hackett led offense appears to stink like garbage, while the Broncos rank 22nd in the league in yards at 329.3, their ineptitude in the red zone and goal to go situations has them ranked dead last in points per game with 15.2!  The Broncos have only scored more than 20 points once and that was 23 in a 32-23 loss to the Raiders.  The Broncos sit at 2-4 and have lost their other 3 games by a total of 7 points.

Yes, the Broncos have dealt with injury issues losing a number of players to torn ACLs but the defense has stood on their head, limiting all but the Raiders to under 20 points.  If the Broncos were 5 points a game better, they would likely sit at 5-1 or 4-2 at worse, instead they sit at 2-4 and are at a crossroad in their season where if they don't win their next two games, the wheels could fall off on this thing.  The Broncos play the Jets at home before flying over the pond before playing the Jaguars in London.  Both games are truly MUST wins going into the Bye week after London.  If the Broncos sit at 2-6, you could see a rarity, Hackett getting fired less than halfway into his first season.  Why would the Broncos panic and make that move then?  Here are a few reasons:

•  BYE week, you make a change and get a week to implement a new staff and philosophy and adjust your team to it and then get a week to treat like a normal game week.  It's not rushed, it's not sudden and the team can rally to the change.
• After the Bye Week, you have 3 winnable games in a row facing the Titans, Raiders at home and Panthers.  The Titans and Panthers both average less than 20 ppg on offense.  If the Broncos are at 2-6, you have to hope they win all 3 to get back into it.  The same ineptness will not get you there.
• After those next 3 games, it's a nightmare remaining schedule with the Chiefs twice, Ravens, Rams, Cardinals and Chargers.  While both remaining NFC West teams are struggling on offense, I find it tough to believe our offense can outduel a Rams team that will be jockeying for playoff position.  All but the Cardinals are likely playoff bound so 5 of the last 6 games are against playoff teams. 
• The Broncos have a very good defensive staff and may want to show Ejiro Evero that they want to retain him at all costs.
• Klint Kubiak is already on staff and while I am not a fan of the Shanahan offense, there is no doubt it still shows better results than this year.  Klint would likely take a bigger role with his history and lineage which may lead to what many are calling for...
• Gary Kubiak to be interim head coach.  Kubiak led the Broncos to Super Bowl glory and again, while his offensive system is archaic, maybe just leading the day to day will get the results needed, wins.

Why the urgency to fire Hackett?  Why not give him a chance?  A 4-13 or 5-12 season is 5-7 games at minimum from where they were expected to be at with their Vegas win total projected at 10.5 wins and the majority of the league experts expecting them to have a minimum of 10 wins and wild card while others projected Super Bowl.  The expectations were set high with the moves made and Hackett hasn't cut it.  It's time to take out the bad pork chops and give Russell Wilson something fresh to cook with.

HOW CAN CU FOOTBALL SUCCEED AGAIN?

It has been 17 years since CU has had two winning seasons in a row.  It has been 20 years since they came off to back to back years of finishing the season ranked.  CU football has spent the better part of the last two decades being a laughing stock instead of a reason to bring excitement as a Colorado Football Fan.  Colorado Football went to a bowl game 17 of 21 years spanning from 1985 to 2005 while they are VERY likely to miss a bowl for the 14th time in the last 17 seasons.  What happened?  How can it be fixed?

Seventeen years ago, Gary Barnett was fired after 5 bowl games in 7 years, a Top 10 ranking in 2001 (and as high as #3 in the BCS prior to bowl season) and producing NFL talent regularly with 21 players drafted during his 7 year tenure.  To give a comparison, it took nearly 14 years to reach the same amount of players drafted from the classes produced by Dan Hawkins, Jon Embree and Mike MacIntyre combined.  Coaching, QB play and talent are the 3 most important aspects of college football.  Without talent, a great coach can only do so much and without the right QB, a team can only go so far and that team is only as good as it’s biggest deficiency in talent.  The one year CU finished ranked in the Top 25 and making a legitimate bowl game was in the 2016 football season.  That team had a secondary where 4 players would be drafted from the secondary, two defensive lineman would see NFL contracts and they had a senior laden team with a QB that had a ton of heart and did anything to win for his team.  

CU has not had a better QB since Sefo Liufau, despite Steven Montez being more talented and putting up better passing stats, he was selfish and lacked the heart to run for a first down.  I believe his sliding feet first, missing a first down instead of diving is one of the most lasting memories of his time.  Despite all that, CU has truly lacked a great QB since Kordell Stewart.  They had a really good QB in Joel Klatt and a leader like Sefo in Bobby Pesavento that made the Barnett era successful.  Still, they all lacked NFL pedigree.  CU needs to find themselves a quarterback that can play, but first they must find the right coach.

Mel Tucker may be struggling at Michigan State in his 3rd season, but he showed the ability to do two key things, assemble talent and coach!  Mel Tucker is a phenomenal coach.  CU lacks what other legitimate Power 5 schools have, MONEY.  CU couldn’t dream of matching Tucker’s contract at Michigan State because the fundraising/alumni donor base can’t touch many SEC, Big Ten and Big XII schools.  That is more than just an Athletic Department problem, but it is part of the problem at Colorado.  Colorado can not afford to take a coach that lacks passion, drive and the understanding to win at the FBS level.  Colorado’s next head coach has to come from one of the following:

• Former College Coach at Power 5 program that had respect of team, state and fanbase but they had higher expectations than just making bowl games.  Your list of those guys starts with: 

• Gary Patterson-Took what Dennis Franchione started and built TCU from a G5 power into a legit P5 team.  16 bowl game in 18 years.  He was 14-16 his last two and a half years.  Obviously he had the groundwork built with TCU 5-0 under Sonny Dykes which doesn’t typically happen without talent and the right culture.

• Bronco Mendenhall-He was 99-43 at BYU, 36-38 at Virginia despite a 2-10 start.  He is less than a year out of the game.  He’s got a podcast that helps him stay connected with the game.  His LDS background may turn off the Boudler base, but they don’t give a shit about football anyway so who cares?  The Boulder/CU community will be talked about further later.

• Dan Mullen, Tom Herman, Clay Helton, etc.

• Matt Rhule-Rhule has nothing to prove.  He can retire on the money Carolina owes him.  But he’s a coach and coaches are never satisfied, so why not CU?!  He was at Baylor.  He can recruit Texas.  He’s hungry.  YES!!!

• Current Power 5 or G5 Head Coaches that are successful

• Look at Sun Belt and other G5 schools for coaches that teams are winning and scoring.  You have to score in college football.  Innovation is key.  CU has ran a 1990s era offense under Dorrell. INNOVATE.

• Maybe a Dino Babers type-HOW?!  Well, maybe that coach is tired of their situation.  Money isn’t much different and CUs facilities and area is an upgrade.  I think this is the toughest get.

• Current Power 5 Coordinators from Powerhouse Schools

• CU nearly inked Ryan Day before they settled on getting Mel Tucker.

• Steve Sarkisian’s contract was torn up before they freaked out and ended up with Karl Dorrell.

• These aren’t really bullet point names but a point made to show Rick George understands who the top dogs are that are out there and guys he has liked in his previous two hires.

Talking Rick George and getting away from the head coach talk, that’s where we truly start seeing things that need to change.  Rick George helped raise money for the Champions Center and getting the things done that needed done to improve Folsom and the IPF.  The problem is we haven’t taken that next step.  I think that’s not just RG getting lazy, but frustrated from the leadership above him.  Phil DiStefano is a nightmare and the Regents serve no purpose to help the athletic life.  Rick George needs to be allowed to make this hire, not get any further contract extension until he’s proven what he can do in the next 24 months.  In those 24 months, Phil DiStefano HAS to be gone and the Regents, including the football  advocates that are running embarrassing governor campaigns, need to give the athletic department the money and resources and stay the fuck out of the way.  That’s the key, Chancellor DiStefano gone and regents support and stay out of the athletic departments way.  

Rick George needs money and he needs to hire.  Let him balance the books. Let him for once ask for some school funding since he’s been running a self sustaining department since Day 1 and get out of the man’s way.  Give RG something to be passionate about like he was up until the day Tucker left and he settled.

I could expound further on why the Regents must stay out of it and DiStefano must be gone, but there isn’t much else to say.  The Regents have some liberal idiots that don’t see the value in football.  I’m a liberal idiot that knows without football, CU is operating a G5 at best school athletic department and likely would have to fold many of the programs they have or move to an FCS level type athletic model.  CU needs football to be successful in order to continue to grow with the changing times of NIL (Name, Image and Likeness), conference realignment and TV dollars.

The end of our time comes with those things.  Rick george must get the donor money from businesses in this state and beyond to compete with NIL, not this lunchbox mentality which is a penny to the dollar of Power 5 schools.  Next, CU must line up with the Big Ten or join a power conference in the Big XII.  The alumni base may be in California, but the passion for football resides in the South and in the Midwest and CU is losing money by sticking with the Pac 12.  CU doesn’t have baseball.  Folsom was full in the Big XII, it’s 75-90% capacity with the Pac 12.  The passion of other fanbases that give a shit matters.  CU needs to hook themselves to this next wagon immediately and create a Power 4th with Big XII/Pac 12 schools that want to make big money with this upcoming TV deal.  The next 2-3 months will be important in CUs football success coaching wise, they must get the right guy there but the next 9 months and shaping themselves with money, TV, NIL are what will determine if that hire will be successful.