Vic Fangio has been what John Elway expected, plus 'a heck of a lot more'

[Miles]

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — When John Elway introduced Vic Fangio as the 17th head coach in franchise history on Jan. 10, 2019, he lauded Fangio’s attention to detail and defensive expertise.


“I’m thrilled that Vic is our next head coach,” Elway said less than a year ago. “I believe he is exactly what we need.”


In Fangio’s first season as head coach, Elway’s sentiment rang true.


With Fangio leading the way, the Broncos ranked in the top five in passing and total defense and the top 10 in scoring defense for much of the season. A late slew of injuries knocked Denver to 12th in total defense and 11th in passing defense, but the team remained 10th in scoring defense to end the year.


The Broncos’ red-zone defense was tops in the league in 2019.


Fangio’s detailed, meticulous approach also kept the team motivated and together following an 0-4 start.


“You know what, we took care of the little things,” Elway said Monday at his season-ending press conference. “You look at what we did penalty-wise and the discipline that the team played with, I think all those things made drastic turn-arounds from where we’d been. I think that was a start, but that’s what Vic impressed with, his attention to detail. One of the great things he did [is] it’s hard to make the transition from the box to the sideline and be able to call a defense and be the play caller from the box compared to the sideline. I think that was seamless. He did that tremendously. He was able to not lose anything of what he did as a defensive coordinator and continue to do what he did on the defensive side, but also be a tremendous head coach. The players believe in him. Again, when we talked about last year and talked to Vic before he was here, those are the things that stood out to me. That’s kind of what we needed. All those things came to fruition and where we are and the discipline that we play with. That’s only going to get better. He’s got one year under his belt. That’s going to continue to get better. On the base of what he’s put on our football team, they understand what those points are. That’s only going to continue to get better.”


The Broncos went 7-5 after that unfortunate beginning to the season, and they closed the year 4-1 in their last five games.


“Obviously when you finish 4-1, you’re excited about that,” Elway said. “This is the first time really in three years we’ve finished strong. … The difference between this year and the previous couple years is that we started slow. It feels better to finish the way that we finished. I think with Vic and his staff and what they did — I’m excited about what he did. He had a tremendous year for us and battled through some tough times. We had a lot of things that didn’t go our way but battled through that. I think the most encouraging thing is you watch how this team played the whole year. They played hard the whole year. That, number one, is the most exciting thing.”