{"id":710901,"date":"2026-01-28T07:09:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T07:09:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/710901\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T07:09:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T07:09:20","slug":"broncos-fire-offensive-coordinator-joe-lombardi-after-three-seasons-in-denver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/710901\/","title":{"rendered":"Broncos fire offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi after three seasons in Denver"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The fallout from the Broncos&#8217; AFC Championship Game loss now includes a firing.<\/p>\n<p>Denver dismissed offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi on Tuesday, NFL Network Insiders Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero reported.<\/p>\n<p>The Broncos have since announced Lombardi&#8217;s dismissal. The team also announced they have parted ways with WRs coach Keary Colbert and CBs coach Addison Lynch.<\/p>\n<p>Lombardi&#8217;s stint in Denver ends after three seasons and includes a disappointing conclusion. The Broncos mustered just seven points, failed to convert a crucial fourth down and finished with 181 yards in their AFC Championship Game <a class=\"nfl-o-cta--link nfl-o-cta--underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/games\/patriots-at-broncos-2025-post-3\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">loss<\/a> to the New England Patriots on Sunday, a contest played amid a second-half snowstorm with backup quarterback <a class=\"nfl-o-cta--link nfl-o-cta--underline\" style=\"word-break: break-word\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/players\/jarrett-stidham\/\" title=\"Jarrett Stidham\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jarrett Stidham<\/a> starting for an injured <a class=\"nfl-o-cta--link nfl-o-cta--underline\" style=\"word-break: break-word\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/players\/bo-nix\/\" title=\"Bo Nix\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bo Nix<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>That result &#8212; plus an inconsistent 2025 offensive showing in which Lombardi&#8217;s unit never quite found a rhythm to match Denver&#8217;s stellar defense &#8212; prompted coach Sean Payton to part with his longtime lieutenant.<\/p>\n<p>Tuesday&#8217;s news also came as Broncos passing game coordinator Davis Webb &#8212; who has been a <a class=\"nfl-o-cta--link nfl-o-cta--underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/news\/nfl-coaching-gm-tracker-latest-news-interviews-developments-2026-hiring-cycle\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">popular name this hiring cycle<\/a> &#8212; interviews for the Las Vegas Raiders&#8217; head coach position. As Rapoport reported on NFL Network, &#8220;things don&#8217;t happen in a vacuum.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Over three seasons, Lombardi directed a steadily improving offense. Denver jumped from 26th in total offense in 2023 to 19th in 2024 and 10th in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Context matters, though: 2023 was the final season with the failed <a class=\"nfl-o-cta--link nfl-o-cta--underline\" style=\"word-break: break-word\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/players\/russell-wilson\/\" title=\"Russell Wilson\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Russell Wilson<\/a> experiment, 2024 was Nix&#8217;s rookie season, and 2025 represented a step into a promising future.<\/p>\n<p>It won&#8217;t include Lombardi, who was shown the door by the same coach he&#8217;s worked under for 12 seasons (in New Orleans and Denver). Payton will aim to push his Broncos forward by finding a new offensive mind to replace Lombardi and work in tandem with the longtime play-caller.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The fallout from the Broncos&#8217; AFC Championship Game loss now includes a firing. Denver dismissed offensive coordinator Joe&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":710902,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[1227,258,7,88,6,609],"class_list":{"0":"post-710901","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-around-the-nfl","9":"tag-denver-broncos","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-no-minute"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115971474323304353","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=710901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/710902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=710901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=710901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=710901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}