Broncos hire Gary Kubiak as head coach, agree to 4-year deal

The Broncos have finally found a head coach in Gary Kubiak after parting ways with John Fox.

Well, that didn’t take long.

To fill in the seat left vacant by now-Chicago Bears head coach John Fox, the Denver Broncos and Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak have agreed to a four-year deal to become head coach, per Mike Klis of the Denver Post.

When the Fox-Broncos relationship was abruptly disconnected following the Broncos’ loss to the Indianapolis Colts in the divisional round of the playoffs, Kubiak’s name was one of the first to pop up as a potential replacement for the job. Not only was Kubiak one of the more sought-after coordinators on the open market, but a history with the Broncos organization and John Elway (Kubiak was offensive coordinator from 1995 to 2005 with the Broncos, helping the organization to back-to-back Super Bowl victories from 98-99) particularly made him a shoe-in for the job once the organization decided not to hire in-house.

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Hopefully, for the Broncos sake, this stint as head coach goes much better than Kubiak’s previous where he failed to make it past the divisional round in the playoffs as coach of the Houston Texans — Kubiak has a head-coaching record of 61-64. After seven seasons with the Texans, Kubiak was fired mid-season after a 2-11 start following a playoff berth.

Of course, in Houston, Kubiak didn’t have as talented a group as this current Broncos team does, which includes several talented position players on both sides of the ball (Welker, Talib, Thomas’, Miller, etc.).

The one position player who will draw the most attention going into the offseason is quarterback Peyton Manning. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that Manning’s best days are behind him, with performance to close out the season and in the playoffs against the Colts has many wondering whether he’ll hang it up and retire or return for one last season. Though injuries played a huge factor in the drop off in production from Manning (the future Hall of Fame QB was reportedly dealing with shoulder and thigh injuries), a combination of age and wear and tear are responsible for Manning’s decline and, again citing age, Manning could see this same issues through 16+ games in 2015-16.

If Manning returns, Kubiak will be forced to put together a contending team, something he’s never done before. Without Manning, we could see flashbacks of Kubiak’s days in Houston as the team, as built but without Manning, could struggle to make the playoffs.

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