Two Ex-Broncos HCs Make 'Worst Coaching Hires of the Century' List

Like every NFL team, the Denver Broncos don't have a perfect head-coaching history. However, some all-time greats have coached the Broncos, like Red Miller, Dan Reeves, and Mike Shanahan, not to mention Gary Kubiak, who won a Super Bowl.

But this team has also had its fair share of head-coaching warts.

CBS Sports' Cody Benjamin included two former Broncos head coaches among the top 25 "worst hires" of the century: Josh McDaniels and Nathaniel Hackett, who ranked No. 4 and 5, respectively. In other words, only three hires were deemed worse this century than McDaniels.

As head coach, McDaniels didn't quite last a full two seasons with the Broncos, posting an 11-17 record. Let's examine Benjamin's analysis.

A hotshot hire from Bill Belichick's coaching tree, McDaniels didn't make it to his first game before dealing quarterback Jay Cutler over offseason miscommunications, and he didn't make it through Year 2 after an NFL investigation found his staff had videotaped an opponent's walkthrough practice during the season," Benjamin wrote. "Somehow he returned to a head gig with the rival Raiders in 2022, only to once again be dismissed halfway through his second season."

The worst aspect of McDaniels' tenure in Vegas was that his Raiders were undefeated vs. the Broncos. The indignity...

Obviously, McDaniels was a big swing and a miss by late Broncos owner Pat Bowlen. It's easy to understand what drew Bowlen to McDaniels; that 2007 New England Patriots offense set the new all-time scoring record and Tom Brady tossed 50 touchdown passes under McDaniels' purview.

But the McDaniels warning signs and red flags were missed. By then, the springs off Bill Belichick's coaching tree had proven to be unfruitful outside of the shade and comfort his tree provided at Patriots HQ.

The only coach to leave Belichick and have a modicum of success as a head guy has been Mike Vrabel, which happened long after McDaniels' tenure in Denver. But I digress. Bowlen didn't heed the red flags on McDaniels, and his No. 1 asset — a fourth-year budding franchise quarterback coming off a Pro Bowl year — was traded away. It was all downhill from there.

McDaniels embroiled the Broncos in a spying controversy and by then, Bowlen was over it. McDaniels was dispatched, and Bowlen hired John Elway to come in and clean up the mess. Now, that was a good hire, Mr. B.

What about Hackett's placement as the fifth-worst coaching hire of the century?

"Hackett is a beloved companion and former colleague of Aaron Rodgers, who's gone to bat for him at multiple spots," Benjamin wrote. "But Hackett's team-up with former Seahawks star Russell Wilson went about as poorly as it could've, with clock-management issues repeatedly dooming Denver before a 51-14 Christmas Day defeat all but sealed his exit. His December dismissal made him just the fifth coach since the AFL-NFL merger to not finish his first season."

Hackett was in way over his head. The Broncos purportedly believed that by hiring Hackett, Rodgers would follow. When that didn't happen, the Broncos were stuck with Hackett, so GM George Paton pivoted to Wilson. That turned out to be one of the worst quarterback/head coach pairings possible.

Hackett was a goofball and loveable in his own way, I suppose, but he was a total incompetent head coach. The new Broncos ownership dropped Hackett like a bad habit and rolled out the Walmart checkbook to hire Sean Payton to turn the ship around.

Surprisingly, Vance Joseph doesn't make this list, who went 11-21 as a two-year head coach in Denver (2017-18). But it's bad enough to have two former head coaches make the 25 worst hires of the century list, and in fairness to Joseph, he never had a quarterback. McDaniels did, and he traded him after barely setting foot in Dove Valley.