Nearly a year ago, I wrote the below post comparing the men who made up the list of former Bronco quarterbacks to former presidents. With all that occurred since then and as a post mortem on the Broncos season, I decided to revisit and add a postscript.
<<March 2009>>
In the midst of the America’s favorite soap opera – the on-going Cutler Snit-Fit, I realized that very soon we could have a new ex-Bronco quarterback. Bronco fans have been somewhat spoiled. While some teams go through quarterbacks faster than a cup of coffee goes through you after a night of drinking beers, the Broncos have only had 4 quarterbacks over the last 26 years.
[NOTE: I am purposely neglecting games started by the likes of Tommy Maddox, Steve Beuerlein, or Danny Kanell. I think it is best if we all pretend those never happened]
Yes, a Bronco quarterback, besides being possibly the most powerful position in Colorado, is also the member of a very exclusive club. One of the more exclusive clubs around. Almost like the ex-Presidents.
In fact, if you really look at those two clubs, you can actually find a lot of similarities between their members.
I don’t mean to imply that Jake Plummer would have come up with a coherent plan for addressing the threat of Al Qaeda prior to 9/11, but I do think each member of the ex-Quarterbacks seems to have a counterpart in the ex-Presidents.
- Brian Griese – a quarterback’s time that was widely viewed as an abysmal failure despite many of the causes of that failure being outside of his direct control. Before getting the job, he was a relative unknown but he seemed to come out of nowhere in his senior year of college to become a rising star. After leaving the office, he has focused on philanthropic pursuits and may ultimately be remembered more for his work done away from the field than what he did on it. Presidential counterpart – Jimmy Carter. And yes, if you analyze this closely enough, I compared Terrell Davis’s knee injuries to the Iran hostage crisis, which probably isn’t real fair. I mean, that was the end of T.D.’s career and the hostage crisis lasted what? Only 444 days?
- Jake Plummer – He was a rising star out of the southwest, known for being a common man. As a quarterback he was roundly criticized for making too many mistakes and making snap decisions that led his team into situations it was difficult to get out of. After he finished his career, tired of the relentless criticism from the press, he disappeared to a quiet spot in the middle of nowhere to get out of the hot media glare and enjoy life after the office. Presidential counterpart – George W. Bush. I am sure Jake is the last person that would want to be compared to Dubya, and believe me I understand, but then he shouldn’t have retreated to Idaho and gone all Unabomber on us. He only has himself to blame.
- John Elway – Elway enjoyed a long career in which the Broncos saw an unprecedented run of success. Not only was Elway successful but he also seemed to lift up the rest of the team, leading them to victory on the force of his personality alone. At the end of his term, he seemed to leave his team primed for continued success, unfortunately a string of unforeseen events, dropped the team into a hole from which it hasn’t yet emerged. Presidential counterpart – Bill Clinton. And I didn’t even make an easy joke about their questionable taste in women or how disgraceful they become in their increasing desperation to stay in the limelight after their time was done.
So with Jay potentially becoming the next member of the club, who will he resemble? It is hard to say. You could go with the full history of the Presidency and say he is a little bit of JFK (young shooting star with tons of promise that is taken too soon). Of the living members of the fraternity, there is only the senior Bush left as a comparison point.
But I don’t picture Cutler producing an heir that will turn the team into the Lions.
<<January 2010>>
Days after this posting Cutler was on his way out of Denver for good, destined to become the second most despised person in the state of Colorado (which makes him the only person that benefitted from the Balloon Boy fiasco). In came Kyle Orton as the new Bronco quarterback. Let’s add them to the list:
- Jay Cutler – a youngster when he joined this elite company, his tenure was cut short rather unexpectedly due to his polarizing attitude. Cutler is JFK. It is hard to really say what Cutler or JFK could have been had they been given a full term in the position. Both showed early promise (a Pro Bowl; handling the Cuban Missile Crisis) yet just when they were ready to make the leap to greatness committed a blunder (Cutler’s red-zone turnover issues; the Bay of Pigs). Ultimately, while their shortened rein may be romanticized by their biggest fans, it is hard to argue that their one overriding flaw (a lack of leadership and turnovers; an overzealous set of advisors steering him into the Vietnamese escalation) can only make their time viewed historically as a failure.
- Kyle Orton – the newest Bronco quarterback. After only one season it is hard to judge what Orton’s lasting legacy could be – especially after a season that started with such turmoil. Orton made mistakes but helped the team to exceed expectations – even if it wasn’t perfect. Though, his time is just starting there were calls for his head almost from the beginning. There seemed to be an almost pathological zeal with which people hunted and hounded him. Orton is Obama. Both came in at a time of great unrest and near catastrophe. Both have very loud detractors, most of whom really can’t be taken seriously (those still pining for the years of mediocrity under Shanahan and Cutler; Birthers). They have had successes but also failures. All in all, it is just too soon to tell how quickly they can get this turned around. But in just less than a year on the job they have given everyone a hope that they might be up to the task. All in all, in a couple years we will know if he is received the seal of approval from his constituents in the job he did.
God help us all, if the next time I write this post, I add a quarterback and compare him to Sarah Palin.
