COMMENTARY : Shanahan Is Where He Belongs; Proof Is in the Super Bowl

As a head coach for the Raiders, Mike Shanahan was going nowhere--certainly not to the Super Bowl.

So he was fired. And now it seems that he was a major factor in getting the Denver Broncos to Super Bowl XXIV.

Shanahan was the assistant coach who in 1986 and 1987 tutored quarterback John Elway, who guided the Denver Broncos to two consecutive Super Bowl appearances. But when Shanahan was head coach of the Raiders in 1988, Elway had an off year and the Broncos slumped to 8-8.

Shanahan was fired on Oct. 3 when the Raiders were 1-3. The Broncos rehired him on Oct. 16. Many believe that he had an immediate and dramatic impact on Elway and the team’s return to another Super Bowl.

Elway was in a slump before Shanahan rejoined the Broncos. In the first six weeks of the season, Elway averaged 173 yards passing a game. He threw five touchdowns and eight interceptions.

The first game after Shanahan’s return was against the Seattle Seahawks in the Kingdome, where the Broncos rarely do well.

But this was a rare game. The Broncos won in overtime, 24-21, as Elway completed 16 of 35 passes for 344 yards and two touchdowns. It earned Elway the NFL’s offensive-player-of-the-week award.

It earned Shanahan renewed respect.

“Mike has been great,” Elway said. “I think you can look at the stats before Mike got here and after he got here. He and I are on the same page on a lot of things. It helps.”

Shanahan’s major contribution was simply time. He had more time to work with the quarterbacks than head Coach Dan Reeves did.

“As quarterbacks, we’re better prepared than when Dan was coaching us,” Elway said.

Shanahan has been given credit for improving Elway’s short and medium passes that require touch. Elway has long been known as a quarterback with a high-caliber gun for a passing arm. But he often lacked touch in the intermediate areas.

So every day Shanahan kept Elway, some tight ends and running backs after practice to run intermediate and short routes. That practice seemed to pay off biggest when it meant the most--in the AFC championship game against Cleveland.

Against the Browns, Elway completed 20 of 36 passes for 385 yards and three touchdowns while showing the kind of touch that many had insisted he did not have. Elway’s ears perked up when somebody complimented him about his touch passes.

“I had touch, huh?” he responded. “I didn’t think that I was supposed to have any touch.”

Elway admitted that the only year in the last four that the Broncos did not go to the Super Bowl may have had something to do with his poor performance.

“I think any time you go 8-8, the quarterback has something to do with it,” he said. “Just like if you are 2-14 or 14-2. I didn’t have a good year. The last two years haven’t been real good for me overall.

“But I think the last two games helped me, helped my confidence. So I feel like I’m back in the form I was a couple of years ago.”

And what of Shanahan’s role in this resurgence?

“He’s been a big boost for me and a big boost for us offensively,” Elway said. “He’s got a great mind and he’s helped us with protection and a lot of things.”

Reeves has consistently admitted that Shanahan is one of the best offensive coaches in the league. But Reeves dislikes dwelling on the subject, possibly because there are those who believe that Shanahan can do what Reeves could not--get the best out of Elway.

And possibly Reeves’ irritability has to do with rumors started by NBC-TV that Broncos’ owner Pat Bowlen persuaded Shanahan to stay in Denver to be Reeves’ successor rather than to take a head coaching job with Kentucky.

On Dec. 17 Shanahan rejected an offer from Kentucky that reportedly was worth $600,000 a year on a five-year contract.

Thanks to NBC-TV’s misinformation, it was widely believed that Shanahan had become the designated heir apparent to Reeves job. But Reeves had never thought of leaving.

“If there was such a promise it was with Pat and Mike,” Reeves said. “It wasn’t with me. I wasn’t informed of it. I’m 45 years old. I hope to hell somebody’s not talking about me retiring yet.”

In fact, Shanahan probably did turn down the Kentucky job because he would rather get another chance as a head coach in the NFL. But not necessarily with the Broncos.

“Anybody would be happy with a job as a head coach in the SEC for the rest of their lives,” Shanahan said. “But I have aspirations and goals I set for myself a long time ago, and they happen to be in the pros.”

But after his misadventure with the Raiders, there are those who believe that Shanahan’s best place in pro football is right where he is--as an assistant coach. His team has gone to three Super Bowls, and he is receiving most of the credit.