Josh McDaniels Fired as Denver Broncos Head Coach, Leaves Bumbling Legacy

Justin Edmonds/Getty ImagesEarly Monday evening, the Denver Broncos and Patrick Smyth confirmed that they had ended the Josh McDaniels Era in Denver, after two short seasons.The former Bill Belichick assistant is just another of one of the many to go from notoriety under Belichick to a Steelers 43 Polamalu jersey
failure as a head coach.The McDaniels Era started out with turbulence, as after a rumored attempted trade for New England Patriots quarterback Matt Cassel, then-quarterback Jay Cutler grew suspicious of the new regime, and the two never resolved their issues, ending with an exchange of Cutler for Bears quarterback Kyle Orton.His coaching career as a head coach started out terrific, and even made people start to forget about Mike Shanahan, who had coached the team since 1995 and brought two Super Bowl Championships along with him in 1997 and 1998.He began the 2009 season by winning the first six games of the season, which included an overtime win over the vaunted Patriots. The season went downhill from there.They went on to lose the next four games, followed by another two wins, and then finally four straight losses to end the season.McDaniels and the Broncos still had a chance to make the playoffs in week 17, as long as the dominoes fell in the right direction.Going into the game, McDaniels and star receiver Brandon Marshall feuded over Marshall failing to show up to physical therapy on time, leading to McDaniels angrily benching the team's best receiver for the game.Should McDaniels have been fired?Should McDaniels have been fired?Yea, he made too many decisions that came back to bite him.78.3%No, he wasnt given long enough.21.7%Total votes: 23The team then went out and laid an egg, giving up a career day to Kansas City running back Jamaal Charles and 2010 pro bowl Vikings 4 Brett Favre jersey
losing the game 44-24. It was only the seventh time since the merger that a team started 6-0 and missed the playoffs.Nonetheless, it was a promising start to a career, even with the mishandling of the Jay Cutler controversy. His bumbling in the front office would be too much to overcome, however.The next season was marked by the drafting of Tim Tebow and trading away Marshall and running back Peyton Hillis for Brady Quinn, a move that would later come back to bite them as Hillis is on the verge of a 1,000 yard season for the Browns.The best the Broncos and McDaniels did to fill in the role that Marshall and Hillis left was drafting receiver Demaryius Thomas (206 yards, 16 receptions, 2 TDs to this point) and signing LenDale White, who ruptured his achilles in the preseason.The team started the season at a respectable 2-2, but went downhill from there, losing its next four games, including the controversial game in London against the San Francisco 49ers.In a videotaping incident similar to that of the Patriots in 2007, the team's director of video operations was found to have videotaped the 49ers practice at Wembley Stadium, leading to his being given a leave of absence.Justin Edmonds/Getty ImagesMcDaniels reportedly declined to view the tape, but did not report the incident to the NFL, leading to a $50,000 fine to both himself and the team.Over the past few weeks, McDaniels had been pressured to give more playing time to Tim Tebow, the much adored former Florida quarterback, 6 Super Bowl Champions jersey White jersey
something which he refused to do.As recently as a week ago, Owner Pat Bowlen said that McDaniels would be the coach at least for the 2011 season, but the pressure to make a change seems to have gotten to him, as McDaniels was let go this afternoon.McDaniels finished his career in Denver with an 11-17 record and is the third head coach fired this season.