Broncos will retain OC Pat Shurmur, who believes in Drew Lock: 'Everything that he's done is correctable'

Vic Fangio appears just fine with keeping his core intact for 2021

Vic Fangio will return for a third season as the Denver Broncos' head coach in 2021, but he won't be the only core piece reprising his role after a disappointing 2020 campaign. As the Denver Post reported, Fangio all but confirmed ahead of Week 17 that he'll retain offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur, marking the first time the Broncos will not change OCs in four years. Not only that, but with Shurmur on track to be back, quarterback Drew Lock also figures to remain a focal point of the team's offensive plans.

Neither Lock nor Shurmur -- the Broncos' entire offensive outfit, for that matter -- fared well in 2020, ranking 27th in the NFL and scoring the fourth-fewest points of all teams. The struggles of Shurmur's unit were arguably the biggest reason for Denver's slip to 5-10 and last place in the AFC West. Lock, meanwhile, failed to build off a promising close to his rookie season, throwing more interceptions (15) than touchdowns (14) and clocking in as one of the league's least-efficient starters in between a shoulder injury and COVID-19-related absence.

Fangio, however, sees value in the continuity of rerunning the Shurmur-Lock pairing in 2021.

"I think it's been a learning process for all our guys," he said, per the Post. "The players learning the system and Pat learning our players and what's the best formula, what's the best approach with the guys we have. I'm excited about what Pat can bring to us moving forward."

The Broncos, of course, could still pursue alternatives at QB this offseason, especially since Lock doesn't carry the investment of a highly paid first-round draft pick. But Shurmur is at least hinting the organization still believes in the ex-second-rounder.

"Everybody talks about this being year two (for Lock), but it's really not year two, in my mind," he said. "It's like a continuation of year one, because he didn't have the whole front half of year two. There's a lot of things that he's done really, really well and then there's some mistakes that become glaring when it comes from the quarterback position. Everything that he's done and made a mistake on is correctable."