Broncos HC Sounds Off on Coaching for His Job vs. Raiders

Nathaniel Hackett is under the gun at Denver Broncos HQ.

Once again, Denver Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett is on the hot seat. After the Broncos opened the season 2-5, rumors lit like wildfire that Denver's new ownership was "embarrassed" by the team's struggles and that if Hackett failed to secure a win in London, it could be curtains on his reign as head coach.

But the Broncos got the win over the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 8, which alleviated some of the pressure on Hackett, but it certainly didn't eliminate it. Then Denver mercifully hit its bye, and all eyes turned to Week 10 in Nashville and the mission to start this "new" season off on the right foot. 

Alas, the Broncos not only lost to the Tennesse Titans 17-10, but Russell Wilson and the offense — the area of expertise for which Hackett was ostensibly hired — was absolutely atrocious once again. And now, you'd be hard-pressed to scrutinize any aspect of the 2022 Broncos on Hackett's watch and find a positive. 

The defense, and hiring Ejiro Evero to be the coordinator, is Hackett's only grace, though it's unlikely to save him if the losses continue stacking up. On Monday, Hackett faced the music once again about the prospect of "coaching for his job" this Sunday when the hated Las Vegas Raiders come to town. 

“I learned a long time ago you’re coaching for your job every day. I mean, every single day you come in that building and you compete and you fight to be the best version of yourself and try to bring the best out of everybody around you. That’s just how this is, that’s how I’ve always known it is,” Hackett said. " Like I said, you're always coaching for your life. To me, it's not about me, though. It has nothing to do with me. It has to do with this team, [it] has to do with these coaches, it has to do with all of us coming together and finding a way to win a football game and that's on Sunday. But we've got to come together as a group. I'm secondary. It's about all of us uniting and coming together and beating the Raiders."

What happens next for the Broncos? Don't miss out on any news and analysis! Take a second and sign up for our free newsletter and get breaking Broncos news delivered to your inbox daily!

The Broncos have lost five straight to the Raiders and are currently winless in the AFC West this season. Fortunately for Hackett, the Raiders might be the only team in more disarray than the Broncos. 

First thing's first, though: in order to get that revenge win over Josh McDaniels and keep his job alive for another week, Hackett has to figure out how to fix a pathetic, league-worst offense. 

"We're evaluating everything," Hackett said. "First, it starts with me. We've got to make sure that the play-calls are the right play-calls and the ones that are going to put the guys in the right position to be successful. We'll evaluate that, we'll evaluate everything that we do. We're 3-6. We're not where we want to be. Nobody's accepting that. That's not the standard that we want to be. We're not scoring enough points. It's that simple. And we've got to find a way to do that, so we'll evaluate everything, every person across the board." 

If you would have asked Hackett this summer to predict where the Broncos would be entering Week 11, he sure as heck wouldn't have guessed that he'd be presiding over the worst offense in the NFL and a team that has limped out to a 3-6 start. 

"Definitely not where we're at right now," Hackett mused. "Definitely not. I think that there's been a lot of things that have accounted to that... Obviously, we're still working through that because it hasn't looked like what any of us wanted it to look like." 

It's clear that Hackett has been learning on the job at a break-neck pace. Hackett's learning curve as a head coach has likely been significantly steeper than what Broncos GM George Paton surmised when he pulled the trigger on hiring him this past January. 

What has Hackett learned about himself since becoming a head coach in the NFL? 

"Probably the biggest thing that I've learned from me right now is just the ability to organize my time," Hackett said. "I think that the time, from the game-planning to [being] with the players, with everybody around—I think that's been one thing that I've had to adjust to and be sure that I give everybody the due diligence that they deserve." 

Will the Broncos relieve Hackett of his duties if the Raiders roll into Empower Field at Mile High and get a win? Time will tell. 

For now, Broncos Country will have to stay tuned — as hard as it might be to resist the temptation not to. 

---

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen.

Follow Mile High Huddle on Twitter and Facebook.

Subscribe to Mile High Huddle on YouTube for daily Broncos live-stream podcasts!

Get your Broncos tickets from SI Tickets HERE!