If John Elway is game to lead the troubled Broncos on another big comeback, then is team executive Joe Ellis doomed to be sent packing to the showers?

Franchise owner Pat Bowlen needs a hero he can trust to clean the slime and restore the Broncos’ good name. Is Dove Valley big enough for both Elway and Ellis? Can Bowlen have more than one right-hand man?

There was a cold, empty feeling Tuesday morning at team headquarters, where the Broncos now suffer from the double whammy of a leadership vacuum and a credibility gap. Fired coach Josh McDaniels had left the building. Bowlen was in hiding.

Left alone to take the heat at a news conference to explain how the Broncos had lost 17 of 22 games, Ellis played the unenviable role of the next fall guy for this mess of an NFL team.

“There are a lot of things that have happened to our organization that aren’t good, and I feel partially — if not close to totally — responsible for a lot of that,” said Ellis, speaking on behalf on his boss, while standing in the tough spot where Bowlen belonged during this crisis.

Before getting down to the business of hiring a general manager to upgrade the roster and finding a coach capable of erasing the memory of McDaniels, what the Broncos require first and foremost is a face to make the franchise likable again in the eyes of betrayed fans.

Elway is the man, the myth and the legend for the job.

Heck, nobody else wants it.

Bowlen has turned in his old flamboyant fur coat for an invisibility cloak. Jersey-salesman extraordinaire Tim Tebow is a raw rookie not yet ready to be a prime-time quarterback. Jilted by the Broncos in contract talks, Champ Bailey lines up at cornerback with one foot out the door.

Let’s be clear: Bowlen and nobody else fired McDaniels, just as the Broncos owner filed the divorce papers with Mike Shanahan, his purported coach for life, late in 2008.

So I asked Ellis why he was designated to leave the shelter of the team’s executive offices to do all the talking and squirming during an introduction of interim coach Eric Studesville that quickly morphed into a public flogging for two stinky seasons of unpopular trades, losses and videotape.

Bowlen was a no-show, Ellis said, “because he asked me to be here on his behalf.”

The man who once lifted the Lombardi Trophy and bellowed “This one’s for John!” after Elway defeated Green Bay in Super Bowl XXXII has punched the mute button as a strong voice for the Broncos.

When he dismissed Shanahan barely 23 months ago, Bowlen declared, “I run the show.”

My, things have changed. Quickly. At age 66, Bowlen has stepped out of the spotlight.

“He’s at a point in his life where he’s humble and modest about who he is, and he wants to just take a step back and let somebody else run the day-to-day operations,” Ellis said.

Bowlen is no dummy.

After firing McDaniels late Monday afternoon, the franchise owner dined with Elway at the quarterback’s restaurant, where the only thing juicier than the steaks is the people-watching.

Maybe a little shine from Elway rubbed off on Bowlen, never more unpopular since buying the team in 1984. What can Ellis do for Bowlen? Shoulder the blame.

Elway, currently working with the Broncos as a consultant, long has dreamed of owning an NFL franchise. Holing up in a dark room to study videotape of footwork by college offensive linemen for endless hours doesn’t seem to be his idea of paradise. So Elway would be miscast as a general manager. His strength would be as a business executive who could raise the organization’s football IQ, while effectively telling the team’s story to season-ticket holders, sponsors and the media.

In other words, Elway could pose a direct threat to Ellis’ power.

If Bowlen needed advice on whether to start Tebow the final two games of a lost season, should the owner trust a Hall of Fame player over Ellis? That’s obvious.

And would Bowlen lean on Elway to help pick the next coach of the Broncos?

“The answer is: I don’t know yet,” Ellis said.

Elway won’t be the chief architect of the team’s revival. This franchise cries out for a general manager who is an experienced team-builder and possesses a proven eye for talent.

But we know one thing for sure: When all seems lost for the Broncos, Elway loves to step up and take over.

Mark Kiszla: 303-954-1053 or mkiszla@denverpost.com