Broncos Reportedly Fire Offensive Coordinator Rich Scangarello During Texans-Chiefs
By Adam Weinrib
Rich Scangarello's one-year tenure calling the Denver Broncos' offense appears to have run its course.
Just 12 months after coming over from the 49ers, where he served as the QB coach, Scangarello has reportedly been let go, a move announced while Denver's division rivals were participating in a Divisional Round playoff battle.
The #Broncos have fired OC Rich Scangarello, per NFL Network.
— NFL Update (@MySportsUpdate) January 12, 2020
The 47-year-old saw his stock rise late in 2018 when he guided Nick Mullens to a series of victories (remember THAT?!), and he was added to Vic Fangio's staff after the grizzled DC made the transition from Chicago to Denver.
Fangio and Drew Lock finally found success late in the 2019 season, after much of the campaign looked aimless with a series of different quarterbacks at the helm. Clearly, the team feels ready to hand the reins to Lock entering next year's training camp, and something about Scangarello's pedigree didn't jive with that vision.
The numbers bear this decision out -- Scangarello's offense really was an equal-opportunity failure.
Breaking: Confirming Vic Fangio has fired OC Rich Scangarello. (1st by @TomPelissero).
— Mike Klis (@MikeKlis) January 12, 2020
Kinda surprising, but not with this:
Broncos were only NFL team to finish in bottom 5 in all 4 key offensive metrics: Points, yards, third down percentage and red zone percentage.#9sports
Whoever takes this job will be entering at an interesting time -- Denver thinks they've finally settled on a game plan for their offensive future and will be trying to slot in someone who's willing to carry it out.