The Denver Broncos are a strong, proud franchise with a rich history of success. However, they have failed to make the playoffs every year since winning Super Bowl 50.
Looking back across team history, there have been some great head coaches but more recently, some pretty bad ones. While discussing a list of the team's worst head coaches, some fans may want to go back as far as the AFL days and name someone like Jack Faulkner (9-22-1 win-loss record) or Mac Speedie (6-19-1) but that's not going to happen here.
The Broncos were a model of success during the Pat Bowlen era and not just a playoff contender but a Super Bowl contender for a good portion of the time. That changed once Bowlen's health began to fail and new names took over at the top.
That is why the majority of this list is fairly new. These are the four worst head coaches the team has had, in descending order.
4 worst head coaches in Denver Broncos history
4. Vic Fangio
Win-Loss Record: 19-30
Playoff appearances: 0
Vic Fangio is one of the best defensive minds in league history, but there is a reason why he has only been a head coach for one team in his nearly 40 years of being an NFL coach.
He may have never been given the best situation at quarterback and he was able to win more games than the other guys on this list, but he seemed like a terrible coach to play for. His decision to hand Teddy Bridgewater the starting job over a young Drew Lock made absolutely no sense then and it still makes no sense now.
3. Vance Joseph
Win-Loss Record: 11-21
Playoff appearances: 0
As bad as Vance Joseph was, it is shocking that there are two names ahead of him on this list. Joseph had no business being the head coach of the team when he was hired in 2017, particularly when that cycle included Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay.
Joseph is a player's coach, to be sure, be he looked absolutely clueless at times and rarely had his team ready to play. He is currently the team's defensive coordinator after being brought back as part of Sean Payton's staff last season. But fans were again calling for his job after the debacle in Week 3 that saw the team surrender 70 points to the Miami Dolphins.
2. Josh McDaniels
Win-Loss Record: 11-17
Playoff appearance: 0
Josh McDaniels is easily the most disliked coach in Broncos history, which started because of where he came from in New England, but quickly heated up when he came in and traded Jay Cutler.
He's often seen as a coach who thinks he's much better than he is and the fact that he was fired in Denver for a videotaping scandal has long been one of the team's biggest black eyes.
1. Nathaniel Hackett
Win-Loss Record: 4-11
Playoff appearances: 0
No matter how much you hate McDaniels, there is no way that he's a worse football coach than Nathaniel Hackett was.
Hackett was just atrocious. He was so bad that he is one of just four head coaches in NFL history to be fired before their first year as coach was even complete. After a 51-14 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Christmas Day, the franchise could take no more and relieved Hackett of his duties.
But not before several boneheaded decisions as well as hearing the crowd at a home game actually count down the play clock to avoid another delay of game penalty. Hackett was extremely bad and it would be a huge surprise if he ever gets taken out of this spot.
