Jeff LegwoldJan 27, 2026, 06:11 PM ETCloseJeff Legwold covers the Denver Broncos at ESPN. He has covered the Broncos for more than 20 years and also assists with NFL draft coverage, joining ESPN in 2013. He has been a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Board of Selectors since 1999, too. Jeff previously covered the Pittsburgh Steelers, Buffalo Bills and Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans at previous stops prior to ESPN.Follow on XMultiple Authors
Was it a mistake for the Broncos to go for it on fourth down? (1:44)Dan Orlovsky and Rex Ryan question Sean Payton’s decision to go for it on fourth-and-1 in the second quarter. (1:44)
The Denver Broncos fired offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi on Tuesday, just two days after head coach Sean Payton said the team’s offense “didn’t do enough” to earn a Super Bowl trip.
“I want to thank these coaches for playing an important role in elevating our program over the last three seasons,” Payton said in a prepared statement. “I’ve been fortunate to work with Joe Lombardi for 15 years and am particularly grateful for his many contributions to our success as offensive coordinator. We sincerely appreciate Joe, Keary and Addison’s hard work and wish them all the best in the future.”
After the loss, Payton was asked what he would be most critical of in the aftermath, and he said he would start with himself, adding: “I think the big thing, that first half, momentum and field position didn’t yield what it needed to yield, we needed more than that. It’ll start there.”
Lombardi spent 12 years, over two different stints, on Payton’s staff with the New Orleans Saints and had been the Broncos’ offensive coordinator since Payton was hired in 2023. Payton, however, is the team’s playcaller on game days. As the Broncos’ offensive coordinator, Lombardi was in the coaches’ booth and among those on the headset with Payton during games, but Payton was the voice in Nix’s helmet.
The Broncos sported one of the league’s best defenses this season — No. 1 in sacks and in the red zone in the regular season, second on third down and third in scoring defense and best in yards surrendered per play overall (4.46). Fueled by that defense, the Broncos also went 11-2 in one-score games in the regular season, the most one-score wins in NFL history, before winning another one-score game, in overtime, over the Buffalo Bills in the divisional round.
“That’ll be an important study and with urgency,” Payton said in Denver. “I want to play from the gun, but I also will always want to play with a two-back or multiple-tight end mindset [and] have that flexibility. … I think it’s one of the key things that we have to do this offseason.”
J.K. Dobbins suffered what turned out to be a season-ending foot injury in the Broncos’ Nov. 6 win over the Las Vegas Raiders, yet he still finished as the team’s leading rusher — by 232 yards — and had the team’s most runs of 10 yards or more (21), seven more than the next running back (rookie RJ Harvey).
Internally, the two most likely candidates to fill the OC job would be Strief, whom Payton promoted to assistant head coach last offseason, and quarterbacks coach Davis Webb, who is still a candidate in the Raiders’ search for a head coach. Broncos senior offensive assistant Pete Carmichael was also the Saints’ offensive coordinator for much of Payton’s tenure.
Was it a mistake for the Broncos to go for it on fourth down? (1:44)Dan Orlovsky and Rex Ryan question Sean Payton’s decision to go for it on fourth-and-1 in the second quarter. (1:44)
Dan Orlovsky and Rex Ryan question Sean Payton’s decision to go for it on fourth-and-1 in the second quarter. (1:44)
Jeff LegwoldJan 27, 2026, 06:11 PM ETCloseJeff Legwold covers the Denver Broncos at ESPN. He has covered the Broncos for more than 20 years and also assists with NFL draft coverage, joining ESPN in 2013. He has been a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Board of Selectors since 1999, too. Jeff previously covered the Pittsburgh Steelers, Buffalo Bills and Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans at previous stops prior to ESPN.Follow on XMultiple Authors
CloseJeff Legwold covers the Denver Broncos at ESPN. He has covered the Broncos for more than 20 years and also assists with NFL draft coverage, joining ESPN in 2013. He has been a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Board of Selectors since 1999, too. Jeff previously covered the Pittsburgh Steelers, Buffalo Bills and Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans at previous stops prior to ESPN.Follow on X
Wide receivers coach Keary Colbert and cornerbacks coach Addison Lynch also were fired.
With backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham in the lineup for an injured Bo Nix, the Broncos gained just 32 yards in the second half of Sunday’s 10-7 loss to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game, had only one first down after halftime and didn’t have a possession in the third or fourth quarters longer than 17 yards.
However, Payton has consistently said he will not surrender playcalling duties, so unless he has a major change of heart in that regard, the Broncos’ offensive coordinator will be a prominent voice in the weekly planning as well as in Payton’s ear on game day, but Payton will still call plays. Many inside the Broncos’ complex believe that will make it difficult to keep Webb long term even if he doesn’t get a head coaching job in this hiring cycle.