Analyzing the 2009 Collapse

The 2009 season played out like an M. Night Shyamalan script, with the Broncos cruising out to an undefeated record over their first 6 games before being flipped on their heads, losing 8 of 10 down the stretch. A lot of the Broncos’ early season success can be attributed to their schedule. With new head coach Josh McDaniels donning the head coach headsets for the first time in his career and quarterback Kyle Orton making the move from Chicago, forced to learn an entirely new playbook, few in the NFL expected the Broncos to make any sort of early move towards the top the standings. In fact, the 2009 season unfolded exactly opposite of what one would anticipate, triumphantly succeeding at the onset before crashing and burning at the point where they should have first been coming together as a team.Last year’s first 3 games were against some of the few teams in the league experts projected to finish as bad as worse than the Broncos. The Bengals, who actually turned out to be the real surprise story of 2009, surrendered a last second miracle catch by Brandon Stokely, to give the Broncos a win in what should have probably been an opening week loss. From there, momentum carried the club past lowly Cleveland and Oakland, both of whom the Broncos routed, building confidence along the way for the new quarterback and the new coaches system. Surprising and impressive victories over the Cowboys, Patriots and Chargers took the team into its bye week with a perfect record. A 30 to 7 pounding at the hands of the Ravens began the downward spiral that consumed the second half of the season. A young, unproven team became overconfident and did not know how to react when faced with adversity.While McDaniels was celebrated for his great start, he should be equally to blame for letting his guys believe they were as good as their record, or for believing it his self. Going forward in his second season, McDaniels should feel confident in his game plan, which he proved could work when executed properly, but he should take heed to the cautionary tale his team exemplified over the course of the last 10 games.