Hours after the most shocking loss of his head-coaching career, the kind of setback some teams never recover from, Mike Shanahan began pouring the foundation for the Broncos’ consecutive Super Bowl championships.
“I remember it like it was yesterday,” recalled Gary Kubiak, then the team’s offensive coordinator. “We’re all licking our wounds and my phone call from Mike was, ‘Hey, we’re going to be fine. I know everybody is disappointed. We’re going to get right back to work. And we’re going to win a championship.’”
Shanahan reached out to several assistant coaches in the hours following the Broncos’ stunning loss to Jacksonville, a 14-point underdog, in a January 1997 playoff game. The calls were half pep talk, half mandate.
“Right then, Mike sent a message to everybody,” Kubiak said. “You knew there was going to be no sulking and we’re going to come back.”
And come back the Broncos did, winning the first two Super Bowl titles in franchise history the following two seasons.
Shanahan led the way as the coach/play-caller/personnel czar, putting his stamp on every level of the organization, one that will honor him at halftime of Sunday’s game against the Raiders by inducting him into the Broncos’ Ring of Fame.
Relaxed and expansive during an interview with The Denver Post at his Cherry Hills home this past week, the 69-year-old Shanahan reflected on his latest honor, and his career with the Broncos.
“It’s something you dream of and you know what a special group it is and to be a part of that ‘team’ is a great honor,” Shanahan said of the Ring of Fame.
One of only six NFL coaches to win back-to-back Super Bowls, Shanahan will join Red Miller and Dan Reeves as former Broncos head coaches with their names on the stadium facade.
“Well-deserved,” Kubiak said in a phone interview from his home in Texas. “What Mike did for that organization, it’s nice to see him receive such a tremendous honor .”
In many ways, Shanahan is the Broncos, though he coached for three other franchises, including the Raiders, for whom he got his first head coaching job.
He was a Broncos assistant for seven years and a head coach for 14. He helped quarterback John Elway finish his career with two titles. One of his protégés, Kubiak, was the coach of the Broncos’ third Super Bowl win (2015). And he coached seven of the nine Broncos who are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame while accumulating the most regular-season wins (138) and postseason victories (8) in franchise history.
His induction, 13 years after coaching his last game in Denver, feels long overdue. Asked if it means his Broncos career has come full circle and been adorned with a bow, Shanahan said no.
“The only bow you have is when you win.”
Instant connection with Elway
Shanahan joined the Broncos in 1984 as receivers coach. Within a year, he was promoted to offensive coordinator.
From 1985-87, the Shanahan-called, Elway-led Broncos made two Super Bowl appearances (1986-87). But the duo hit a roadblock one step from a championship, losing to the New York Giants and Washington, respectively.
The connection between Shanahan and Elway was instant, though, and it helped transform the franchise.
“We weren’t too far apart in age (eight years) and we both had the same goal — he wanted to win a Super Bowl and I wanted to win, and he knew the only way to do it was to spend quality time together,” Shanahan said.
Said Elway: “No. 1, we liked each other personality-wise and got along really well. And I liked the way he coached. He was a guy I trusted and really knew football. That combination is why we became great friends.”
Kubiak was the backup quarterback. Knowing he wanted to coach after his playing career, he got a front-row seat to Quarterbacking 101 from Elway and Coaching Offense 101 from Shanahan.
“It was awesome for me and John,” Kubiak said. “Mike was so young that in a lot of ways, we grew up together — Mike as a coach and we as players. To watch Mike work with John and do everything he could to put himself in a position to be successful was a dream come true for a guy like me to be a part of.”
The Shanahan-Elway dynamic was also one of necessity. Shanahan knew he needed a quarterback of Elway’s talent to win and Elway knew he needed a play-caller/coach of Shanahan’s acumen to do the same. That they got along was a bonus.
“The innovation we saw from Mike as a head coach, we saw that in his understanding of offensive football when he was an assistant,” Elway said.
Shanahan left the Broncos to become the Los Angeles Raiders’ coach in 1988 but was fired after a 1-3 start in ’89. He returned to the Broncos as an assistant to Dan Reeves, but was fired after the ’91 season because, Reeves said years later, he believed Shanahan was plotting to take his job.
The silver lining of having to leave Denver became apparent immediately. Shanahan joined the San Francisco 49ers as the offensive coordinator, a three-year experience that helped define his coaching philosophy. Former coach Bill Walsh videotaped all of the 49ers’ staff and coaches’ meetings in the early-to-mid 1980s, a treasure chest of tape for Shanahan to dissect. It served as the basis for what he brought to the Broncos when he took over as head coach.
“Mike was learning the Bill Walsh 49ers Way and I saw him take it to another level,” said Kubiak, who joined the 49ers staff in ‘94. “He knew exactly how he wanted to run his program, how he wanted to prepare week in and week out, the type of players he was looking for, the type of coaches he was looking for. What I witnessed was Mike taking a lot of the brilliance of San Francisco and put his spin on it.”
Shanahan spurned owner Pat Bowlen’s offer to return to the Broncos after the ’92 season to replace Reeves as head coach. But when asked again after the 49ers beat San Diego in the Super Bowl in January 1995, he accepted.
Back-to-back titles
It didn’t take Shanahan long to have the Broncos in Super Bowl contention. In Year 2, a nine-game winning streak put the Broncos in control of the AFC until Jacksonville came to town.
Nearly a quarter-century later, those around Shanahan remember how quickly he turned the page.
“The chapter was closed, but at the same time, we hadn’t forgotten about it,” said Hall of Fame safety Steve Atwater. “We had an even better team in ’97. It was just an amazing environment to be in where guys had fun, but worked hard and left it all on the field.”
Said Elway: “I always thought Mike’s philosophy was great. It’s human nature, when you lose, you press and try harder and get mad and when you win, you get happy with yourself. Mike was the exact opposite. When we lost, he let up on us, looked at our mistakes, and moved on quickly whereas when we won, that’s when the hammer came down because he didn’t want us to get lax.”
The tone set by their demanding coach in the hours after the Jaguars’ loss led to a focused, determined team in 1997 — qualities they needed to win on the road in the playoffs. The Broncos’ road to their first Super Bowl started with a revenge win over Jacksonville followed by road wins over top-seeded Kansas City and then Pittsburgh. Appearing in the franchise’s fifth Super Bowl, but still seeking their first win, the Broncos were an 11 1/2-point underdog to Green Bay.
“I told my kids (Kyle and Krystal), ‘We’re going to win this game. We’re ready to play,’” Shanahan remembered.
Said Kubiak: “You go to a Super Bowl Week and it’s all about confidence with your players and coaches. Our team was full of confidence.”
The Broncos won 31-24 on Terrell Davis’ 1-yard touchdown run with 1:49 remaining.
The favorites to repeat in ’98, Shanahan kept the hammer down.
“Mike was great,” Elway said. “We were a veteran team and we took it upon ourselves (to say), ‘No one can beat us except ourselves so it’s our job to go out and play like we’re capable of, and if we do, then we’ll win.’ There was a standard we wanted as a team and Mike set that standard.”
In Elway’s final year, he missed four games due to injury but the Broncos went 14-2 in the regular season. In the AFC title game, they trailed the Jets 10-0 early in the third quarter before scoring the final 23 points. Elway’s last game was a Super Bowl rout of Atlanta.
A surprise firing
Shanahan’s end as the Broncos’ coach in 2008 was much like the Jacksonville playoff loss — a shocker.
The Broncos started 4-4 but won four of five games to take the division lead, despite being decimated by injuries. In the penultimate game, the Broncos outgained Buffalo 532-275 but lost 30-23. Two days later, Bowlen visited Shanahan’s office.
Asked if when looking back, he misread any signs of his dismissal, Shanahan said: “It was just the opposite. Pat came into my office on a Tuesday after the Buffalo game. … He was trying to keep me from getting down, (saying), ‘We have (quarterback Jay) Cutler and he’s having a Pro Bowl year. You lost most of your players. You had almost 550 yards (last week).’ I was actually feeling pretty good about our football team.”
Then came the season finale, a 52-21 drubbing by San Diego. Soon after, Bowlen fired his friend.
“I was quite surprised because of him talking to me the Tuesday before. But those are things that happen. … Sometimes things aren’t perfect, but it’s part of the process and it never changed my relationship with Pat. I promise you, he was always one of my best friends.”
Shanahan accepted the Washington coaching job in 2010 and was 24-40 in three years, winning the NFC East in 2012 before getting fired in 2013. After the ’17 season, Shanahan discussed with Elway, then the Broncos’ general manager, a return to the sidelines, but said this past week the talks didn’t get serious.
He’s not surprised he’s stayed out of coaching (“I wasn’t going to go to an organization just for a paycheck”) and had no interest in becoming a television analyst (“I don’t think that would be my deal.”).
He and his wife, Peggy, married for 44 years, have seven grandchildren age 14 and younger and he keeps regular tabs on the 49ers, where his son Kyle is the head coach. Kyle will be in town Sunday to celebrate with his dad, along with a huge contingent of family, friends, former players and coaches.
Hall of Fame next?
Shanahan is sentimental about his big weekend. It will be a time of reflection about the soaring highs he reached and the lasting relationships he forged.
His induction leaves just one huge honor left, getting into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
Shanahan has been a regular at induction ceremonies honoring former players. It’s likely he’ll get the call someday, as a two-time Super Bowl champion. Among the six coaches to win consecutive Super Bowls — Vince Lombardi, Don Shula, Chuck Noll (who did it twice), Jimmy Johnson, Shanahan and Bill Belichick — all but Shanahan and Belichick (who is still active) are not in the Hall.
“That decision is made by other people,” Shanahan said of his candidacy. “If you worry about those types of things, you’re looking in the wrong direction.”
Shanahan has many supporters, and none bigger than Elway.
“His case is as strong as any candidate when it comes to being a head coach,” Elway told The Post. “You look at his overall record during his time here and then he went to Washington and took that team to the playoffs. The impact he’s had on the game and you look at what teams are doing offensively — his coaching tree is spread out pretty wide and it’s all because of what they learned from Mike. It’s not only what his record was on the field, but also the impact he’s had on the game of football.
“He’s the best coach I ever played for.”
