Shanahan Tries To Outdo McCarthy

Mike Shanahan, the Denver Bronco coach, did everything he could today to try to outdo Mike McCarthy’s performance in the second half of this season’s Packer-bear game, which was recognized nationally as perhaps the worst coaching performance in the history of the NFL.  As I will point out, Shanahan came close, and must be given credit for this monumental effort.  Let me count the ways:

1. Denver made almost no attempt to score in the first half.  Their gameplan was very conservative, and most formations included only one wide receiver.  Running against the bears when you can pass at will is bad enough, but when you have formations with only one receiver, that allows the defense to have even more guys playing the run.  When Denver realized this would be a game after Hester’s runbacks, they then started to pass, put more receivers into the game, and moved the ball at will through the air.  They averaged 9.4 yards/pass play, which is great.  Why they didn’t pass in the first half and put the game away then is a mystery.  The receivers were wide open in the first half.
2. Denver ran on most first downs, unsuccessfully.  First-down passes were successful, but Denver decided to run.  Again, when they started throwing on first downs in the second half, it worked.
3. The bear offense, as usual, was going nowhere.  With about 6-1/2 minutes to go, the bear offense had 3 points.  The bears had 20 points, but 14 were on Hester’s returns and 3 were due to a turnover where the offense lost 10 yards before kicking a field goal.  So, with the bears’ offense going nowhere as usual, the Broncos kept kicking/punting to Hester, and he returned 2 for TDs.  As discussed for two years, any coach who kicks to Hester is an idiot.  The bear offense had done nothing, and as also discussed, you can’t let the bears’ special teams and defense beat you.  You have to make the offense beat you, because they can’t.  Why, after more than a year-and-a-half, do coaches still kick to Hester?  As with the Kansas City game, if the Broncos don’t kick to Hester, they beat the bears badly.  What will it take until teams stop kicking to him?  Even when the bears got the ball at midfield on the squib kicks, they did nothing with the field position.
4. On the first offensive play in overtime, Grossman completed a bomb to Clark that got the bears close to winning-FG position.  As discussed numerous times, Grossman’s main offense is the first-down bomb, and teams still haven’t figured this out.  What will it take?  The Colts figured this out last year and said after the game that they knew Grossman liked to go deep on first down, so they played their safeties accordingly.  This is almost a year later, and Shanahan still doesn’t get it.
5. Three times the Broncos had a first down inside the bear 5, and three times they ran it on first down.  The first two times, they were stuffed for losses, so what did Shanahan do the third time?  Run it unsuccessfully.  How many times do I have to point out the bears are in a run defense on first down?
6. The Broncos decided to stop pressuring Grossman, and we all know how he responds to pressure.

Despite all this idiocy, with about 6-1/2 minutes left in the game, the Broncos were up 14 points and punted to the bear 10.  The bear offense had 3 points to that point.  However, the Broncos got called for an illegal formation on the punt, had to punt again, it was blocked, returned deep in Bronco territory, and resulted in a TD that put the bears in the game.  If not for the illegal formation penalty, the game is over.  How can you line up in an illegal formation on a punt?  They had been punting all day!