Fangio dismissed as Broncos coach
Vic Fangio was fired on Sunday morning as coach of the Denver Broncos after going 19-30 in three seasons.
Team president and CEO Joe Ellis, who will step down later this year, said general manager George Paton will have “full authority to select the next head coach.”
“This morning, George and I informed Vic of the decision to part ways with him as head coach,” Ellis said in a statement. “For the last three seasons, Vic put his heart and soul into coaching the Broncos. I want to thank Coach Fangio for giving his maximum effort to our organization since the day he was hired.”
Fangio released his own statement in which he thanked the organization and fans and praised Paton as one of the NFL’s top GMs: “Broncos fans, you have a great one in George.”
Fangio said he appreciated the team’s “fight and character you showed each and every week. No matter the adversity, circumstances or challenges we faced, you never backed down. I am proud to be associated with this group of fighters and competitors.
“The foundation is in place for this team to accomplish great things. The future is bright for the Denver Broncos, and I wish the organization nothing but the best.”
The Broncos lost their final four games to finish 7-10, capped by a 28-24 loss to Kansas City on Saturday in which they blew a fourthquarter lead and extended their losing streak against the Chiefs to 13 games.
Fangio met with Paton ahead of the season finale and laid out his plan to fix the Broncos’ myriad problems that extended the team’s playoff drought to six seasons and string of losing records to five years.
Fangio led Denver to a 5-11 mark last season and went 7-9 in 2019 after he replaced Vance Joseph, who was fired after two losing seasons.
Fangio got the job after more than three decades as an assistant, and he burnished his reputation as a defensive master during his time in Denver. But the Broncos didn’t win, and that cost him his job.
Fangio isn’t expected to be out of work long. He will be a candidate for a defensive coordinator job in the new round of coaching changes this month.
Fangio’s teams struggled mightily on offense and special teams and his game management skills, including use of timeouts, challenges and clock handling, came into question in all three of his seasons in Denver.
The Broncos averaged better than 10,000 no-shows over their final six home games, including nearly 15,000 Saturday, a sign the fanbase had grown frustrated with Fangio.
WATT MAKES MARK >> Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt matched the NFL’s official single-season sack record of 22.5 by corralling Baltimore Ravens quarterback Tyler Huntley in the final minute of the first half during Sunday’s gamey.
The sack, the only one of the game for Watt, enabled him to tie Michael Strahan, who set the record in 2001 for the New York Giants.
“It’s definitely a cool thing,” Watt said.
LIONS ROOKIE DAZZLES >> Detroit’s Amon-Ra St. Brown had eight receptions for 109 yards and a touchdown against Green Bay, setting team rookie records with 90 receptions and 912 yards. The fourth-round pick from USC closed the season with at least eight catches in six straight games, setting an NFL rookie record.