By Mike Kahn
CBS SportsLine Executive Editor
Oct. 8, 1998

To call the Denver Broncos anything but John Elway's team would be erroneous were it not for one factor ... that the transition into Super Bowl champions occurred during Mike Shanahan's watch.

Nobody

The third time with the Broncos has been charming for Mike Shanahan. (Allsport)

would ever mistake him for Mr. Congeniality or pick him to host a game show because of his personality. That's because he's a football coach, and his approach to the game and life is exactly what the Broncos needed. And it isn't as if Elway feels like he has been upstaged or has one iota of a problem with what has happened upon the return of his former quarterback coach.

"I THINK MIKE'S come in here and, over four years, built quite a football team," Elway understated. "He's done a great job of getting talent here and depth also. I think his experience in San Francisco (three previous years) helped him a great deal and the system they run. He brought that base of that here and a very good football mind has expanded because of it."

Unusual as it is, this is the third stint with the Broncos for Shanahan. Coaching was inevitable for this Chicago native, who went to Eastern Illinois as a quarterback and was forced to retire after an injury in the spring game his junior year cost him a kidney. From 1975-83, he was an offensive assistant for a slew of college programs, ultimately leaving Florida as assistant head coach/offensive coordinator to become the receivers coach of the Broncos. A year later, he began a three-year term as offensive coordinator before leaving to become the coach of the Los Angeles Raiders.

The nightmare was recurring for years.

"It was an experience," Shanahan said.

He speaks in generalities that can be construed as cliches. OK, they are cliches. For lack of a better term, he is as focused as any coach you'll ever see. If you look closely enough when he's talking, you swear his teeth are grinding from intensity. Still, outside of working for Al Davis in Raiderworld, the rest of his career has been of fine pedigree. He returned to the Broncos to become Elway's quarterback coach for two years and the offensive coordinator for a third.

Shanahan didn't stick around for the comedy/tragedy of Dan Reeves' final year with the Broncos and spent three years in the 49ers' lair of offensive geniuses, adding to his own experiences. By the time Reeves was shown the door and Wade Phillips had kept the team lingering around .500 for two seasons, the Broncos were ready to provide Shanahan with his dream job as head coach.

"This is a great group of guys and (owner) Pat Bowlen has given me the resources to develop a winner," Shanahan said. "You have to have guys who show up. We have a lot of quality people who play extremely hard."

Or else.

WHICH HE DIDN'T SAY. HE DIDN'T need to. For this is how Mike Shanahan operates. He lays out the ground rules. You follow them, you're fine. You don't, you're fined -- or gone.

After a rough start, his relationship with Elway has blossomed. Over the years, Shanahan has learned to be flexible with his prize QB.

"I didn't see his last stint with the Raiders," Elway said. "Anytime you go from an assistant coach to a head coach, there's quite a bit of change just because of the responsibilities and the things he has to do. He's really kind of a different guy now. He's got everything going the way he wants it going and he's got all the control he wants. And it's worked."

He is 38-15 in three-plus seasons with the Broncos and his team has so much momentum now, it hasn't even needed the battered Elway to play the past two weeks. This Sunday in Seattle, Elway will play against the Seahawks -- despite the strained hamstring and lower back that kept him out of the past two games. Elway is 38, closer in age to Shanahan than a lot of his teammates, and eschewed retirement primarily because of the beckoning of his wife and Shanahan.

"John's been an icon here for so long, it seems like it's always been this way," Shanahan said. "He's meant so much to this football team and organization, it's something everybody is used to."

Nobody gets bored with winning, particularly after years of teetering on the edge of Super Bowl championships, only to fall short. These days, the Broncos are continuing their run of playing the best football in the NFL. Whether they return to the Super Bowl is anybody's guess, but if they miss, it won't be for lack of preparation from Shanahan, the man of steely resolve.

"He's the main guy responsible for what we're doing here now," Elway said. "He works as hard as anybody in the world works, and there's nobody who will outwork him. He's a guy who's almost possessed at winning football games."

Which becomes easy when you possess a winning team.