There’s no good spin to put on firing a head coach before the end of his first season and Broncos General Manager George Paton didn’t try to do so on Tuesday.
Nathaniel Hackett was fired on Monday after the team fell to 4-11 with a 51-14 loss to the Rams on Sunday that Paton called embarrassing and unacceptable in his opening comments at a press conference on Tuesday. Paton spoke after team owner Greg Penner said that he had “full confidence” in Paton, who oversaw the process that resulted in Hackett’s hiring before making the trade for quarterback Russell Wilson.
Neither move worked out at all and Penner’s vote of confidence likely made it easier for Paton to say that “there is no one to blame but me” for how poorly this season has gone in Denver.
“As I told the players yesterday, I take full responsibility for where we are as a football team. I brought in the head coach, I brought in most of the players,” Paton said.
Penner said that he will run the search for the new head coach and that person will report directly to him, but that Paton will have input in a process that needs to result in a lot more success if Paton’s going to be making many more decisions in Denver.