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Krieger: Yes, it's time someone said a kind word about Shanahan

By Dave Krieger, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published December 30, 2006 at midnight

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These are what Mike Shanahan calls expectations.

The Broncos have a chance to make the playoffs Sunday?

Yeah, but . . .

Yeah, but they won't have a bye.

Yeah, but they'll have to go on the road.

Yeah, but they still don't have a pass rush.

It is a measure of the standard this franchise has set that making the playoffs produces a collective yawn, even if only 12 of 32 NFL teams manage it. On the other hand, should the 49ers pull an upset Sunday and knock the Broncos out of the postseason, Shanahan and possibly defensive coordinator Larry Coyer, depending on the final score, will be victims of sudden idiot syndrome.

So let's take a moment before disappointment's odds go up to admire something even the Broncos have never done before. If they beat the Niners on Sunday, they will go to the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year.

During 30 years of excellence under Red Miller, Dan Reeves and Shanahan, they've never made the postseason more than three years in a row. Even John Elway, who took them 10 times in 16 seasons, never went four in a row.

And now, in a year in which they changed quarterbacks, they could join New England and Seattle in that thin air.

The only longer active streak, five, belongs to Indianapolis.

Considering that just four years ago Shanahan was the guy who couldn't get to the playoffs without Elway - having managed it once in four tries - four in a row since then wouldn't be bad.

We have come to believe that Broncomania is a feature of the region, as immutable as the topography, but frankly, we don't know if that's true. It would take a period of sustained mediocrity to find out. It would take a decade or two of being the Browns or the Bills while some other team in town played for championships.

Wisely, the Broncos haven't given us a chance to find out.

If they beat the Niners on Sunday, they will go to the playoffs for the eighth time in Shanahan's 12 seasons in charge. Add that to six in Reeves' 12 seasons, three in Miller's four and one in Wade Phillips' two and you have the Broncos in the playoffs 18 times in 30 years, a remarkable record of sustained competitiveness.

It should not be taken for granted. The leathery bags under Shanahan's eyes are testimony to the commitment that makes it possible.

I get a fair amount of mail asking why I lack the intestinal fortitude - not the exact expression most often chosen - to write that Shanahan is a terrible play caller, a terrible personnel executive, a man whom the game has clearly passed by. This mail arrives after losses, predictable as spam.

It is often accompanied by the second-guessing of a key play that didn't work, which represents conclusive proof that Shanahan requires custodial care.

The problem is, like a lot of people who are comfortable with their competence, Shanahan is often the first to point out his own mistakes. When I asked him about play calling following the Seattle game, he volunteered a call he would have liked back, a third-and-1 pass play on rookie Jay Cutler's first series.

And when you do get in the first dig - I asked if he planned to line up Jason Elam in the backfield in San Diego - he's just as likely to make a joke at his own expense as he is to bristle, although he still does that, too, on occasion.

In this case, he mentioned he had never called a fake field goal before, and Elam's strained hammy reminded him why.

So, yes, he makes bad calls. This just in: So does everybody else. If he calls 75 plays in an afternoon, some of them are going to work and some of them aren't. The ones that don't can always be second-guessed. That's true of every coach. It's why Reeves labeled the wretches who covered him "the greatest second-guessers in the world." I am proud to say I was one.

Nevertheless, Shanahan wins 62 percent of his games as an NFL head coach, an impressive number in this age of parity. It's 64 percent if you forget about his brief time with the Raiders, which he wouldn't mind. If he is not yet a lock for the Hall of Fame, he will be soon.

Even if they win Sunday, the Broncos are not likely to go far this year. They have a rookie under center, suspect offensive and defensive lines and special teams that haven't been.

It has been a year of transition to a new generation. Rookies Cutler, Mike Bell, Brandon Marshall and Tony Scheffler are repopulating the offense. The remaining veterans from the Super Bowl years are nearing the end.

Amid these changes, the Broncos still are in the thick of it. Somehow, they have a chance, at home, to wrap up their fourth consecutive playoff appearance.

This is how you run a professional franchise. Making the playoffs is what you expect. After a while, so does everybody else.

Of course, you'd better do it.