Sports Thread #2 for 12/30/08: Broncos Fire Shannon (Was It Really a Shocker?)

Photo from the Associated Press

Sooner or later, Mike Shanahan was going to feel the pressure of losing his job in Denver after only winning one playoff game since John Elway left the building. But still, the shock of him losing his job today is still, well, a shock to some fans. And it basically brought disgust from Jay Culter and shock from basically the whole locker room.

"I was talking to Mike yesterday about personnel moves," he said in an interview on KCNC-TV in Denver. "I'm as shocked as anybody else. I think it's the wrong move."

Though Culter and the team may not be happy about this, it just had to happen.

As John Clayton said, what cost Shanahan his job was more his General Manager's role, especially with his draft picks (um, Maurice Clarett)and moves on the defensive end. You can say whatever you think about Shanahan being a great coach or not after he won his second Super Bowl title, and you can point to how classy the man is.

But results are results, and considering this collapse to the Chargers at the end of the season (the first team ever to blow a three game lead with three games left to play since divisional play began in 1967), 14 years was long enough for owner Pat Bowlen.

(Maybe more surprising to me was the fact that Dick Jauron kept his job with the Bills, considering their mini collpase from a 5-1 beginning to a 7-9 end result)