The Broncos, despite losing seven of their first 10 games, had not been beaten by more than one score. On Sunday, they lost to the Carolina by 13, to fall to 3-8.
Plenty of Broncos fans are hoping that a change will be made at the coaching position, sooner than later. As bet we can tell, that’s currently very unlikely.
It’s important to add “as best we can tell” because the Wal-Mart moguls who bought the team in August have kept their cards very close to the vest. They are very smart. They are very methodical. They are not panicking.
And there’s really no reason to. Other than today, every game was close. Injuries have depleted the roster. The players continue to play hard.
Besides, it’s extremely rare for a coach to not finish his first year. It’s happened only four times since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970.
And while it indeed happened last year with Jaguars coach Urban Meyer, that was a strange case. There were off-field concerns, and the team was simply not responding to Meyer’s ways. Hackett has been far from perfect, but it’s been nothing like the train wreck from a year ago in Jacksonville.
The Broncos have six games to go. That’s more than a third of the season. Ownership, barring some sort of calamity that should be regarded a highly unlikely, will wait until the season ends before making a decision. At that point, they very well could decide to make a change. Things may seem very different, however, after the next six games are played.