Reader: Is incompetence to blame in Josh McDaniels-Pat Bowlen-Broncos' coaching mess?

Pat Bowlen.

Fortunately, at least one reader brought some much needed objectivity and analysis to the story.

Eric wrote:

Maybe there's no "bad guy" in this mess.

As incredible as is seems, unthinkable just 10 years ago, and contradictory to it's history since 1965, the year Mr. Phipps ponied up and bought the team's majority ownership, just maybe.......

Maybe......It's simply come down to pure and unadulterated incompetency.

Pat Bowlen has been the best owner this franchise has had to date. His philosophy from day one was leave no stone unturned financially, while leaving the football operations side to the football people in the organization.

The football side people were the best in the business. Names like Fred Gerkhe and John Beake, Jack Elway and Bob Ferguson are revered, and rightly so.

The last few years, something changed. We can speculate ad infinatum as to what "it" is but there definately is an "it".

A football guy would never have entrusted the entire operation to smooth talking, naively over confident 34 year old with no playing experience, no business acumen, no player evaluation experience, and no personell history.

But that happened.

No doubt it was time for Shanny to go. Burned out, tired of the organizational infighting that was partly his fault and partly not, Shanny simply lost his edge.

But when he left, he left a slightly flawed but still very talented football team with a tough running philosophy, an excellent assistant coaching staff, and a reputation of competency to match.

It was unfair to ask Ellis to be something he's not.......a football guy.

Ellis was point man in the Mcdaniels hire. While Bowlen's was the final word, Ellis evidently pushed hard for it. Giving Mcdaniels complete control, with no safety measures, no "kill switches" to prevent monumental draft errors, was catostrophic. The first rounders the Broncos missed on the last 2 years and the 3 picks given up for this years' incredible reach will haunt the team for 5-7 years, maybe longer. Draft disasters are crippling.

The firing of coaches, sometimes on a whim, the abandonment of the offensive zone blocking philosophy that was the envy of the league, and the player evaluation mistakes Mcdaniels has made to date are well documented.

They say people learn more from their mistakes than from anything else.

Let's get a football guy.

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