A Broncos Nation Divided

[tnedator]

I posted this on a couple boards the other day, but knew if I posted it here, I would get flamed by many.

Anyway, I know some here will relate to it, so here it is.

==============

A Broncos Nation Divided

As Jay Cutler marched the Bears on a 98 yard scoring drive, the game day
thread was spiraling out of control. The fans of cutler cursing new coach
Josh McDaniels. The fans that have washed their hands of Cutler, cursing
the announcers that went on and on about how a team never trades a
franchise Quarterback -- about the gift that fell in Lovie Smith's lap. The
fans of Mike Shanahan cursing Pat Bowlen, because they felt that Mr.
Bowlen pulled the trigger too soon on firing Shanahan. All in all, a divided
forum -- a divided Broncos nation.

With each penalty, with each injury, the divide widened, the tempers flared
more. A nation in turmoil, fan against fan, a virtual civil war ripping apart
the Broncos nation.

Similar meltdowns were occurring on message boards and blogs across the
internet, not to mention bars and living rooms across the Rocky Mountains.
How did such a great fan base fall into such disarray? How could so many
fans watch the same events unfold over the offseason, over the last five or
ten years, yet see those events in such different ways?

The beginning of the end for Mike Shanahan started just under nine months
ago, when the Broncos held a three game lead with three games left in the
season. Surely, the Broncos two year playoff drought would end -- all that
was needed was one win in the final three games. Then the unthinkable
happens, not only do the Broncos lose in weeks 15 and 16, but the chargers
win in those same weeks, and then the lead is down to one game. Still,
there is hope, beat San Diego and the AFC West title returns to Denver.
When the game was over, the Broncos not only lost, but were blown out in
a way Denver fans had not seen in years. The Broncos defense surrendered
more points than any Broncos team in nearly 20 years. The Chargers
finished with a team record 289 rushing yards, and their offense fell only a
few yards short of 500 yards.

It was an end to the season that few had envisioned. The Broncos became
the first team in over forty years to blow a three game lead with three
games to play.

Still, there was hope. Even with seven Broncos running backs finishing the
season on injured reserve, the Broncos offense finished second in the league
in total offense and third in passing offense.

As bad as the season ended, hope for the new season already started to
emerge. The feeling that with the fire power of Cutler, Marshall, Royal,
Clady and the rest of the offense, all that was needed was to shore up the
defense -- just put an average, middle of the pack defense on the field to
give the offense a chance to win.

Little did Broncos fans know that the historic three game implosion to end
the season would just be a ripple compared to the waves they would endure
this offseason.

A couple days after the season ended, Mike Shanahan was fired. After
leading the Broncos to two Super Bowls and having one of the best winning
percentages in the NFL over the previous 14 years, and even the ten years
since Elway retired, three straight losing seasons and blowing a three game
lead for the division title lead Pat Bowlen to believe it was time to make a
change.

As the shock wore off, Broncos fans again felt hope. With one of the top
offenses in football, surely Pat Bowlen would hire a defensive wizard to
come in and put a defense on the field to support the offense. Yes,
Shanahan's firing came as a shock to many, but then the thought of getting
a defensive head coach, once again brought hope to the Broncos faithful.

Then, in another surprising move, Mr. Bowlen hires Josh McDaniels, a young
offensive coordinator who was coming off a great three year run in New
England. When this new shock faded, the talk of bringing in Don Capers,
Mike Nolan or another proven defensive coordinator once again brought
some hope to the fans.

As if things couldn't get any worse, after news leaked that Josh McDaniels
was involved in trade talks to ship out Jay Cutler in exchange for Matt
Cassel, the one year starter that he had worked with for four years in New
England, Cutler asked to be traded. Surely the nightmare of the last four
months couldn't continue, there was no way that McDaniels and Cutler
wouldn't be able to sit down and work it out. Not this offseason, the word
'surely' had no place. Cutler was soon traded to the Chicago Bears for two
first round picks and Kyle Orton.

At almost the same time that Cutler was being traded, Brandon Marshall was
undergoing surgery on his hip, which he believed was misdiagnosed by the
Broncos medical staff the previous year. A couple months later, as he is
rehabbing from the surgery, his anger at the Broncos failure to renegotiate
his contract, combined with the hip diagnosis, lead him to walk out of the
Broncos offseason camp, and ultimately lead to Marshall's suspension for
disrupting practice and conduct detrimental to the team.

In nine short months, the Broncos went from a shoe in to win the AFC West,
to having a new head coach, Kyle Orton under center in place of Jay Cutler,
and Brandon Marshall, only the ninth player in NFL history to have
back-to-back 100 reception seasons, was suspended for conduct detrimental to
the team.

Could things get any worse?

That's what Broncos fans were thinking on Sunday night as they watched
Kyle Orton walk off the field holding up a bloody finger, knowing full well that
backup Chris Simms had been knocked out the week before with a sprained
ankle. Moments later, Jay Cutler, the onetime franchise quarterback of the
Broncos, now wearing a Bears uniform, took the field on his own two
yard line. In five painful minutes, Cutler marched the Bears down the field,
with the final stake to the heart being a six yard pass to Matt Forte for a
touchdown. Yet, it was only preseason.

It was only preseason. These new Broncos, with the new quarterback and
the new coaching staff, and their new look 3-4 defense had yet to play a
regular season game. It was only preseason.

As the fans tore each other apart on the message boards and blogs, you
might have thought that it was actually January, 2010, with the Broncos
having missed the playoffs for a fourth straight year. Even the division of
the Jake Plummer years paled in comparison to what we saw as the
frustration of the past nine months came to a head as Chris Collinsworth
said, "teams just don't trade away franchise quarterbacks" as Cutler marched
the Bears down the field, reminding fans -- those that loved him and those
that hated him -- of what could have been.

Long into the night, after the game had ended, just a preseason game at
that, peace was not to be found among the fans. The fans of the same
team, fans of the great Denver Broncos were civil no more. Civility, a word
long forgotten, lost sometime between the Shanahan firing and the Marshall
suspension. For many, the word hope also had disappeared from their
vocabulary, lost sometime over these nine painful months.

The Broncos will become a winning franchise again. Maybe this year. Maybe
next year. Maybe three or four years from now. The Broncos will again rise
to the top of the NFL ranks. The only question is when it will happen.

However, that is not the only question that the Broncos nation faces. They
face another 'when'. When will the fans of one of the classiest franchises in
the NFL begin to once again treat each other with class, with respect?
How long before we see a time when Broncos fans can discuss the state of
the Broncos and even disagree while still treating each other with respect --
with civility.

Being one of the NFL's elite franchises, isn't just about wins and losses, it's
about how you talk about the game, how you treat your fellow fan. In this
area, the collapse of the Denver Broncos to end the 2008 season pales in
comparison to the collapse of the Broncos nation -- to the Denver fans
feeding on their own.

While the fans have no control over who is hired or fired. Have no control
over who is traded, drafted or suspended. Have no control over overthrown
balls, dropped passes or missed tackles. They do have control over one
thing.

How they treat their fellow fan.

[broncswin]

Man you just summed it up right there. We know in our hearts we our and always will be fans of our beloved Broncos. Teams fall on hard times, right now I would have to say this is the hardest time for the team in the 20 sum years I have followed them, but what we may go through now will only make us stronger. Realization has shown how good we had it, and in time(hopefully short time) we will be back. Bronco Country will be strong again, I really do believe this.

GO BRONCOS!!

[OABB]

**** you a-hole.

[oubronco]

Cause this is "Broncos Country"

[TheDave]

Good read...

The fact remains if the team wins people will unite. If not, things will get worse.

It is what it is...

[listopencil]

That's racist.

[El Guapo]

I didn't really need to be reminded of the worst off-season ever, but it was a good read. In the winter, if a fan could land one snowball on McDaniels noggin' I would be a happy Broncos fan once again.

[WABronco]

Originally Posted by orangeandblueblooded

**** you a-hole.

Seconded.

Maybe you should step the **** away from the keyboard and realize what you're arguing about? HMMM.

I have my strong opinions, but I have more fun posting on here in threads started by the two extremes (as in F MCD or CHRIS BAKER NO. 1!!!) than I do actually voicing a strong opinion.

That was all very relevant, I know.

[hambone13]

A very well written article with a valid premise. I'm not sure if the Kool-Aid pitcher is a reality but if he comes bounding through my living room before the end of the season, I might believe we're going to be ok in the near future. Welcome to the jungle of unnecessary uber-rebuilding.

[Taco John]

That was a great read. Thanks for that.

I'm going to do my part to try and treat people more respectfully. At the end of the day, all the turmoil here is about one thing: everybody wants to see the team win. Some feel like we're moving in the wrong direction, and that's why they're acting out. Some feel like we're moving in the right direction, and are angry that their counterparts don't share their vision.

But at the end of the day, it's about wanting to see the Broncos win. We all have a lot more in common than we don't.

Thanks for the eye opener, tned.

[spdirty]

Pretty disgusting what an old drunk and an immature, insecure 33 year old kid have done.

[spdirty]

Anyway, I really would like to share Popps and companys vision and hope of this team. Just dont see it there. Anyway, hope the Broncos win, hope we become contenders soon, hope McDaniels can pull a rabbit out of his ass and find a Tom Brady out of thin air, just dont see it happening. And dont think this team will be anywhere close to competitive till we find a new coach/GM. Hope Im wrong though. Winning will cure all the animosity that McD has been earned and through.

Great read BTW.

[ZONA]

Fans are not divided because of winning and losing as TheDave suggests, not entirely anyway. McD hasn't even coached a single regular season game yet and there are plenty of "fans" who continually bash him on anything they can think of, some even going as far as saying they hate him. So right there that shows that it's not all about wins vs losses.

You're always going to have those forum fans who love the attention of making posts to be controversial as well as those that try to be funny by making annoying hateful remarks.

But I honestly believe there are a great deal more civil and intelligent fans here then there are ignorant mis-behavin babies. You just have to do your best to skip over those posts and get the ones where guys comment and debate with sophistication and articulate well their reasons for their views.

For example, the guy who just replied to your entire post with FU Ahole, I mean, that sums it up right there. No intelligent reason why he disagrees with your comments, just a blunt negative remark. But, to be fair, we all have done that one time or another, some just do it much too often.

Anyway, I appreciate the time you put into your comments. But I wouldn't get any high hopes of everybody on this board becoming nice to each other, aint gonna happen.

[Taco John]

Originally Posted by ZONA

Fans are not divided because of winning and losing as TheDave suggests, not entirely anyway. McD hasn't even coached a single regular season game yet and there are plenty of "fans" who continually bash him on anything they can think of, some even going as far as saying they hate him. So right there that shows that it's not all about wins vs losses.

I think it's about the fact that a lot of people felt legitimate optimism about the future of this team under Shanahan. Whether you agree with their assessment about that optimism or not is a different matter. The fact is that a lot of people thought that Shanahan had the beginnings of a perennial Superbowl contender. I know that I did.

[spdirty]

Originally Posted by ZONA

Fans are not divided because of winning and losing as TheDave suggests, not entirely anyway. McD hasn't even coached a single regular season game yet and there are plenty of "fans" who continually bash him on anything they can think of, some even going as far as saying they hate him. So right there that shows that it's not all about wins vs losses.

We are divided before he has coached a regular season game because many of us believe that this regime (McD and Bowlen) has severely damaged this teams ability to win games, not only by trading a key player, but making it difficult to even try to replace that key player in next years draft.

As far as "hate" I dont know who does, but I dont hate him. In the end he cant take my house away, put my family out on the street, raise my taxes, or send me to a war. All the Broncos are are entertainment. And win or lose, no matter how passionate we may be, most of us still have to put our workpants on Monday morning and go to work.

[spdirty]

Originally Posted by taco john

i think it's about the fact that a lot of people felt legitimate optimism about the future of this team under shanahan. Whether you agree with their assessment about that optimism or not is a different matter. The fact is that a lot of people thought that shanahan had the beginnings of a perennial superbowl contender. I know that i did.

x2

[ZONA]

Originally Posted by Taco John

I think it's about the fact that a lot of people felt legitimate optimism about the future of this team under Shanahan. Whether you agree with their assessment about that optimism or not is a different matter. The fact is that a lot of people thought that Shanahan had the beginnings of a perennial Superbowl contender. I know that I did.

See, I was beginning to lose that faith in Shanny after yet another season of epic failure at the end. Starting fast, finishing weak. Going through the annual DC changes and the number of failed projects on the defense started to strain my views that Shanny could get this team back into the Superbowl. I never once thought he wasn't the best X's and O's guy out there but his personnel choices were failing at an alarming rate. Only did the last few drafts (mostly offense players) at least make it so I tolerated Bowlen not yanking the GM duties from Mike. And when the defense sank to the worst in the league last year, as well as our continually horrible special teams, I was losing faith fast.

And it's hard to not to agree with Mike when his own comments after being let go was, I simply didn't get the job done. Period.

[BroncoBuff]

Originally Posted by ZONA

McD hasn't even coached a single regular season game yet and there are plenty of "fans" who continually bash him on anything they can think of, some even going as far as saying they hate him. So right there that shows that it's not all about wins vs losses.

The "hate" part goes overboard, granted.

But quite simply, there's nothing wrong with disliking McDaniels, nothing. And there's nothing wrong with voicing objections to the direction of the team. Too often those who do so are attacked and insulted. I don't see the "blue skies" people getting attacked by us. McDaniels, yes. Bowen, yes. Orton, yes. But not the posters themselves.

Dan Reeves takes huge amounts of grief and insults around here, and yet he was an excellent coach, results wise. Might've even been better than Shanahan. That's my opinion. But I don't attack people who disagree with me, just as I think we should not be attacked.

That's all I ask, that if you disagree - in either direction - try to put a lid on the hostility

[ZONA]

To get back to the original post, I liked it because what are you seeing (mostly) in this thread? Guys who are trying to articulate their thoughts into interesting objectives and agreements. Not just some ruthless grunts trying their best to be funny or annoying. Kinda nice.

....but we'll probably see one of those here in the next few replies......

[footstepsfrom#27]

I'm more concerned about maybe 400 other things than what some clown on a blog thinks of me, you or the rest of "Bronco Nation".

[tnedator]

Originally Posted by ZONA

To get back to the original post, I liked it because what are you seeing (mostly) in this thread? Guys who are trying to articulate their thoughts into interesting objectives and agreements. Not just some ruthless grunts trying their best to be funny or annoying. Kinda nice.

....but we'll probably see one of those here in the next few replies......

Yep, I was sitting here reading the replies and was thinking the same thing. You, Taco, BroncoBuff, Dirty are all having a civil conversation, even though multiple, opposing views are expressed (mine is along the lines of what Taco was saying about optimism of what Shanny was building, but now I have moved on to hoping McDaniels will succeed).

Doesn't seem like it should be hard, but when you read threads here, on Mania on other sites, you would think at times we are fans of different teams based on the nastiness and hatred and trolling that takes place.

[hambone13]

Originally Posted by Taco John

I think it's about the fact that a lot of people felt legitimate optimism about the future of this team under Shanahan. Whether you agree with their assessment about that optimism or not is a different matter. The fact is that a lot of people thought that Shanahan had the beginnings of a perennial Superbowl contender. I know that I did.

x3

[tnedator]

Originally Posted by footstepsfrom#27

I'm more concerned about maybe 400 other things than what some clown on a blog thinks of me, you or the rest of "Bronco Nation".

What clown on a blog is that?

[Meck77]

Go Broncos!

[footstepsfrom#27]

Originally Posted by tnedator

What clown on a blog is that?

Pick a blog...any blog. It's the nature of the internet. People are obnoxious and act stupid once they go online. It was true long before McD was here and it's going to continue long after he's gone. That's why I can't get to worked up about what somebody says to me or what they think of my opinion. People enjoy conflict in here because they can't engage each other like that in the real world without suffering consequences for it. We're simply not a very civil society anymore.