Confusion, contradictions and in-fighting. Who knew the Buffalo Bills were the NFL’s Kardashians?
Watching owner Terry Pegula stumble through Wednesday’s press conference trying to explain the firing of popular coach Sean McDermott and promotion of Brandon Beane elicited one response: Thank goodness the Broncos no longer traffic in this dysfunction.
Pegula rarely talks to the media, and it became obvious why. Even if his intentions were good and necessary when receiving $850 million in public funding for the new stadium, Pegula did the impossible. He made coaching Josh Allen seem unappealing.
It was a disaster class in how not to communicate a message and stay on point. Pegula insisted he fired McDermott because of the visceral reaction he witnessed after the loss to the Broncos. Players were upset. Some cried.
Has he never been in a locker room after a season ended?
Whatever, McDermott was canned for the latest playoff loss (All Pegula had to say was the team had gone as far as it was going to go under the coach, so a new voice was needed). But, wait, didn’t Pegula exclaim in his opening remarks, “that was a catch,” regarding Brandin Cooks getting the football wrestled away by Denver cornerback Ja’Quan McMillian?
So, the coach got fired for a game when your team was robbed?
Make it make sense.
For good measure, Beane, the man who assembled rosters that have never reached a Super Bowl, received a cushy new title and more autonomy and, in case you were wondering, Pegula declared that the GM should not be blamed for drafting Keon Coleman. That beep, beep you heard was Pegula backing the bus over an active player on the roster and the coaching staff.
It is easy to laugh because the Broncos no longer live in this world.
When trying to explain how the Broncos reached the AFC championship for the first time in a decade with $32 million in dead cap money for Russell Wilson, don’t forget ownership.
As someone who began covering the Broncos in the early 1990s, my respect for Pat Bowlen is immense. But Denver was not returning to the NFL’s upper crust as a family business.
A Shakespearean drama played out after Bowlen stepped away from daily operations in 2014, passed away with Alzheimer’s in 2019 and until the team was sold in August of 2022.
In an ideal world, Bowlen would have left a cornerstone NFL franchise for his children that would have united them forever in joy and victories.
Instead, the trust was a mess, leading to legal battles. No child was specifically groomed for the role and Bowlen never declared a successor. There is no way you will ever convince me that the issues upstairs did not affect the Broncos’ product on the field.
The Broncos missed the playoffs for eight straight years and posted seven consecutive losing seasons, their most since 1963-72. This was not a coincidence.
A great quarterback, even if Allen was not that last Saturday, is not a chameleon. They cannot camouflage everything. It is impossible to win championships when discord exists in the corner office.
The Walton-Penner Family Ownership Group gave the Broncos more than deep pockets. They provided direction, discipline, creating the expectation of excellence. No excuses.
The Broncos would not be in this position without the evolution and involvement of Greg and Carrie Walton Penner.
Greg Penner fired coach Nathaniel Hackett with two games remaining in the ownership’s first season. He made it clear why — the team was rudderless — and what he was seeking in a replacement. He wanted a coach with a strong personality and belief system to set the tone for the organization.
He landed on Payton, getting what he paid for in a sport where there is no salary cap for coaches. And to hear Payton tell it, he came to Denver, in large part, because of the owners. He is not shy about saying poor ownership makes winning a fantasy.
Payton established a culture, creating accountability, while leaving no gray area on how and who he needed for Denver to climb back to relevance. He has worked well with general manager George Paton. Both report to Penner, fostering creative and dynamic friction.
As Greg and Carrie have grown to know the NFL, they bring leadership that is present and understanding. They don’t meddle, but they constantly ask questions and seek answers, making them demanding in the name of winning.
The money matters. It always does. But only if spent wisely. Over the past 18 months, the Broncos’ owners agreed to 10 in-house contract extensions totaling more than half a billion dollars, with in excess of $300 million guaranteed for core players.
Bowlen was a Hall of Famer. Even he would not have been able to pull this off.
The Walton-Penners are modern owners. They are not the Dodgers, but they are closer to that model than the Steelers, who are afraid to rebuild, operating under the delusion that a winning record is the ultimate goal.
In their fourth season, the Walton-Penners watched the Broncos win their first division title and playoff game in a decade. They have alignment with the coach, quarterback and front office.
That’s why the juxtaposition between what was happening in Buffalo and Denver on Wednesday was so alarming. The Bills became a bad reality show right before our eyes.
And the Broncos, back in the NFL’s Final Four, were staring at their new reality:
They are just getting started.
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