We love John Elway because he never blinks at trouble. A gunslinger at heart, he was born to be a hero, standing tall and fearless in tough situations that make mere mortals shrink. Step back, folks. Let No. 7 handle it.

In Elway we trust. Forever and always. Correct?

Well, not so much. Not now, as the Broncos are doomed to back-to-back losing seasons for the first time since 1972.

This team is a mess with Elway’s fingerprints all over it. Who are these guys wearing orange and blue? The Broncos have no identity, no quarterback and no coach that inspires confidence in the fan base.

But worst of all, the Broncos have nobody that can tell Elway no. Denver Broncos More Broncos news

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Pat Bowlen is too ill to tell Elway no, and the owner’s family is too busy bickering about which one gets the biggest slice of a $3 billion pie.

Team president Joe Ellis lacks the football expertise to dictate whether Elway’s next move should be making the playoffs while Von Miller is in his prime or a total rebuild while searching for a franchise quarterback.

And Vance Joseph? He was hired, and will get fired, because his job is to never disagree with Elway.

Despite being the son of a coach, Elway is a coach killer.

A steadfast belief in his enormous talent can diminish Elway’s trust in others. It was true as a player, and I believe it has also hurt him at times as an executive. Elway wants to do it all himself. While a stubborn refusal to accept defeat is a blessing, his inability to let anybody else be the hero is a curse.

As a player, when Elway felt Dan Reeves harshed his mellow and stifled his creativity, Broncos Country understandably sided with its superstar quarterback rather than a coach who won 184 games and three AFC championships.

As a general manager, Elway’s first coaching hire was amiable John Fox. Although Fox’s 71.9 winning percentage was the best in club history, he didn’t kick or scream enough for Elway’s liking. Feeling his voice was too often dismissed in the team decisions, Fox wanted out badly after his fourth season.

Gary Kubiak won a Super Bowl with his longtime friend, but the job made him sick, so Kubes quit after only two years working for Elway. While the 11-20 record of Joseph certainly merits his dismissal, I do feel genuine sympathy for him, because it seems to me that Elway hired Joseph to be a puppet rather than to empower him as a true leader of men.

I went back and found a quote uttered by Elway shortly before he returned to a hurting franchise in 2011, asked to be the hero in a new role as front-office executive.

“Football is what I know the best,” Elway said in December 2010. “I’m not interested in being a head coach. I’m not interested in being a general manager. I don’t have that kind of experience to be able to pick those players day-in and day-out and such.”

But eight years later, here we are, with Elway trying to do it all for the Broncos, not only acting as architect of the roster but also acting suspiciously like a shadow coach.

Has ego gotten the best of Elway?

For the Broncos to move ahead, Elway needs to take a step back. Heroes don’t like to ask for help. But this team is a mess Elway can’t fix by himself.

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The next coach of the Broncos needs to be somebody Elway regards as his football equal, rather than as his back-up quarterback.

The next coach of the Broncos needs a strong vision of how to run a football team from Day 1, not be an apprentice who stumbles through trial and error for over a year.

The No. 1 trait the Broncos need in their next coach?

A man unafraid to stand up and tell Elway no.

The question is: Will Elway listen to anybody?