What a wild week it's been in the West, as coaching changes and major relocation moves have dominated headlines the last 24 hours. The Denver Broncos narrowed down their coaching search after the departure of Head Coach Gary Kubiak, and officially announced Wednesday afternoon their newest member of the organization. In Southern California there's been a major change that will likely receive a lot of attention for the coming months.
Let's break down this week's edition of the AFC West Update.
Denver Broncos
The Broncos announced Wednesday afternoon there would be a new driver navigating the vehicle that is the Orange Crush. In 2005, Vance Joseph got his start as an assistant defensive backs coach the San Francisco 49ers, and from there went on to become the Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator for the 2016 season. While in Miami, Joseph coached a defense that ranked 15th in passing yards allowed per game, and he will certainly have more defensive tools at his disposal with the Broncos.
As a former cornerback, the University of Colorado Boulder-product has an understanding of what it takes to be efficient in the secondary, and will inherit the league's best passing defense in 2016. The hiring of Joseph came after the unexpected new of former Broncos Head Coach Gary Kubiak's retirement.
Kansas City Chiefs
The Chiefs are the only remaining team from the AFC West contending for a Super Bowl, and they will square off against the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday morning at 10:05 PST, in a game that will take place at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. In Week 4, the Chiefs traveled to Pittsburgh to duke it out with the Steelers and ended in a one-sided affair.
The Steelers trampled the Chiefs 43-14 behind a massive offensive output from the team's three key weapons. Ben Roethlisberger threw for 300 yards with five touchdowns, running back Le'Veon Bell rushed for 144 yards, and wide receiver Antonio Brown finished the outing with a pair of receiving touchdowns. If the Chiefs want to have any sort of success this Sunday they'll need to limit Pittsburgh key playmakers.
Los Angeles Chargers
The San Diego Chargers are no more, and will officially relocate to Los Angeles. The news broke Wednesday evening rather abruptly after the team had tried to come to a solution in San Diego for quite some time. For the time being, the Bolts will play their games in the StubHub Center located in Carson, Calif., but will share the new stadium being built in Inglewood with the Los Angeles Rams.
Next on the agenda will be finding a new Head Coach for the team, current candidates consist of Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive coordinator Mike Smith, New England Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia, and a few more. It'll be interesting to see what transpires with this franchise going forward.
