NFL: Each team’s greatest head coach in franchise history

Denver Broncos: Mike Shanahan (1995-08)

Mike Shanahan wasn’t the first Denver Broncos head coach to reach 100 wins. That honor goes to Dan Reeves who the team coached from 1981 through 1992. During that span, Reeves racked up 110 wins against 73 losses and a tie. What he didn’t do was win a championship.

Shanahan also doesn’t own the best winning percentage in team history. That belongs to John Fox who coached from 2011 through 2014. He was helped by having Peyton Manning under center, but Fox still had an incredible .719 winning percentage going 46-18 in four years in Denver. However, he also didn’t win a title — although Gary Kubiak did the year after Fox left in 2015.

Shanahan though, he won two titles and has more than 100 wins as the head coach of the Broncos. A 20-year NFL head coach, Shanahan was on the Denver sideline for 14 seasons and was 138-86 as their coach. He made the playoffs seven times during his tenure and was 8-5 in the postseason. Denver won the Super Bowl after the 1997 and 1998 NFL seasons.

In fact, his second win in Super Bowl XXXIII featured Shanahan and his Broncos against the team’s old coach Reeves and his Atlanta Falcons. A surprise team to reach the title game that season, the Falcons weren’t able to defeat Denver, as Shanahan and his team were able to successfully defend their crown.

Shanahan left the Broncos after the 2008 season and resurfaced with the Washington Football Team. He had three losing seasons but did manage one 10-6 record in 2012, as they took the NFC East crown with Robert Griffin III under center. His son Kyle Shanahan was on that staff and now is the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers.