Denver Broncos coach Nathaniel Hackett is going 4-11

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The Denver Broncos fired first-year head coach Nathaniel Hackett on Monday.

The move comes after a 4-11 start and Sunday’s 51-14 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.

Hackett’s dismissal brings an abrupt end to the shortest tenure of any non-interim head coach in franchise history. The Broncos’ new ownership—the Walton-Penner group, led by Wal-Mart heir Rob Walton, daughter Carrie Walton-Penner and son-in-law Greg Penner—soon ran out of patience with a team that had one of the best defenses in the league but an offense that simply couldn’t score.

After extensive talks with [general manager] George [Paton] And our ownership group, we determined that the new direction would ultimately be in the best interest of the Broncos. new boss.

“Going forward, we will carefully assess every aspect of our football operations and make any necessary changes to restore this franchise’s winning tradition,” Penner said, adding that Button will assist with the search for coaching. No interim coach has been named.

The team has scheduled a press conference for Tuesday at noon EST.

At one point this season, the Broncos featured their 1st scoring defense and 32nd offense. The Broncos also missed the playoffs for the seventh year in a row, the longest playoff drought since the franchise’s early years, when they missed the playoffs between 1960 and 1976.

It’s a far cry from Hall of Famer Pat Bowlen’s three-decade run as owner, when the Broncos went to more Super Bowls (seven) than they lost seasons. This season is also the fifth time the Broncos have averaged fewer than 20 points per game over the past seven years. Until Hackett’s dismissal, Wade Phillips had had the shortest stint as the team’s non-interim head coach in the post-merger AFL-NFL era—two seasons (1993–1994)—before he was fired by Bowlen and Mike Shanahan was hired.

Hackett, 42, was hired in January as the franchise’s 18th head coach after serving three seasons as the Green Bay Packers’ offensive coordinator under Matt LaFleur. At the time, Patton described Hackett as “a dynamic leader and coach whose intelligence, innovation and charisma impressed us from the very beginning of the operation”.

Then-Rams offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell and Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn were also finalists for the role. O’Connell was later hired by the Minnesota Vikings, whose increased offense led them to a 12-3 start. Shortly after hiring Hackett, the Broncos traded five draft picks, including two first-round and two second-round picks, as well as three players to the Seattle Seahawks for a quarterback. Russell Wilson. Wilson was signed to a five-year, $245 million contract extension right before the start of the season.

But the Broncos’ offseason excitement quickly faded as Hackett’s in-game decision was questioned from the start of the season.

In the first week, I invited him to kick Brandon McManus A 64-yard field goal attempt in place of Wilson’s fourth-and-5 conversion attempt in the final minute of the 17-16 loss to Seattle proved controversial.

“Looking back, he definitely should have gone for it,” Hackett said the day after the loss. “One of those things is, you look at it again and you say, ‘Of course we have to go to it; We missed the field goal. But in this case we had a plan, and we knew 46 was the mark.”

Game management issues continued in the weeks that followed — fans even counted down the game clock during some home games — and former Baltimore Ravens assistant coach Jerry Rosberg was hired in September to help make in-game management decisions. However, the disconnect between Hackett, Wilson, and the crime persisted. Hackett routinely stressed that he wanted to “build this thing [Wilson]and doing what Wilson was “comfortable doing” in the offense even as Wilson repeatedly said he was comfortable “doing a lot of things.”

At 15.5 points per game, the Broncos are at their lowest point in a season since 1966.

Injuries to frontline players such as left tackle Garrett Paulsrunning back Javonte Williamsa wide future Tim Patrick and outside back Randy Gregory It certainly didn’t help matters. But as the season progressed, there was a lot less conversation in the public domain about Hackett’s willingness to think outside the box in his teaching methods and more about why the Broncos offense is historically so bad. Five of the Broncos’ first six defeats and eight overall have been one-game wins.

That wasn’t the case on Sunday, however, as Denver’s defense saw the Rams score eight of their nine possessions. In addition, a backup quarterback Brett Ryan And guarding Dalton Reisner He exchanged words on the sidelines after a sequence in the third quarter when Wilson was sacked on consecutive plays.

Gregory was pulled from the game twice by Hackett, once in the first half when he was flagged down after he threw his helmet after a Rams touchdown, and later when he was flagged for a late hit on the Los Angeles team. Baker Mayfield. “After that second time, we took him out—it’s not acceptable,” Hackett said.

With the teams crowding in the middle of the field on their way to their locker rooms after the game, Gregory and the Rams made their guard Uday Abushi Words exchanged – in helmets – and Gregory Aboshi punched in the helmet. Aboshi countered with a punch of his own before they split up. Gregory and Abeche were each suspended one game by the NFL on Monday.

With the richest ownership pool in the NFL as well as a fanbase passionate enough, by far, to give the Broncos a home-selling streak dating back to 1970, the role of head coach for the Broncos will be an attractive job.