ENGLEWOOD • Five months ago, Jerry Rosburg was enjoying a cup of coffee at his lake house when he got a phone call from Broncos general manager George Paton. 

Paton asked the longtime NFL coach to see if he’d be interested in helping the Broncos with game management. Rosburg agreed, wanting to help Paton and the Broncos, who were in a tough spot. Five months later, Rosburg was named the team’s interim head coach, after Nathaniel Hackett — who Rosburg was hired to help — was fired. 

“The Lord works in mysterious ways. Just pay attention and keep your eyes open,” Rosburg said Wednesday. “There are opportunities out there. I was fine. I was doing good, but here I am. I’m happy to be with you all.” 

Rosburg, 67, gave a captivating 26-minute press conference Wednesday, which included a 13-minute opening statement. Having coached 17 years in the NFL before retiring in 2018 and unretiring this season, Rosburg expressed his gratitude for the situation, even if it’s not in the best of circumstances. 

“I would like to just let you know that I’m humbled by this opportunity that I’ve been given. At the same time, I’m very confident that I can do this job in the next two weeks,” Rosburg said. “I’ve been asked to do this job, and I’m humbled by the opportunity. At the same time, I can do this.” 

Rosburg has been a well-respected coach in the NFL for some time, working most recently on John Harbaugh’s staff in Baltimore, serving as the Ravens’ special teams coordinator from 2008-18. Rosburg retired following the 2018-19 season, believing he was done coaching. 

And while he got back in the mix this season, helping the Broncos with situational football, that doesn’t mean he wants to be considered for Denver’s opening. 

“I’m desiring that we win two football games these next two weeks,” Rosburg said. “I’m desiring to have a great practice here in about an hour and a half or less. I’m desiring to have great meetings after that practice. I’m desiring to have players play the way that will allow them to excel in their career. I’m not looking at it like what’s happening after this season ends. I’m not trying to build a resume. I haven’t had a resume for 15 to 17 years. I haven’t needed one. I’m not trying to enhance any reputation that I may or may not have.”

Though, Rosburg has been acting like a head coach the past 72 hours since Hackett’s firing. 

He’s held team meetings and individual meetings, talking with players who had incidents on Sunday against the Rams. And he’s made staff changes, firing special teams coordinator Dwayne Stukes and offensive line coach Butch Barry. He also announced that quarterback Russell Wilson will be the Broncos’ starting quarterback the rest of the season. 

So while Rosburg may only be the coach for the final two weeks of the season, he intends to help change the culture in Denver.

“These next few games, I want this team to play like I envision a football team playing,” Rosburg said. “I want us to be — offensively, defensively, and special teams — the way I envision the NFL football being played. I’m going to try to do that in a very short period of time. The good news is that we’re already heading in that direction. This is where this club is going. So I feel that is something that will happen organically.”

And that starts by trying to end a 14-game losing streak to the Chiefs on Sunday. 

“That needs to change,” Rosburg said of the losing streak. “How do you go about doing that? You put together the best game plan that you can. You put the best players on the field. You teach them how to play and how to play together, and you go about making measure of that and changing that. That’s a number that I am having a hard time grasping, frankly, because this organization has a steadfast, incredible football tradition.

“It cannot be that way. It just cannot be that way. I’m setting out to try to — in one week — change the course of that.”

Jerry Rosburg during the NFL Game against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday, October 2, 2022 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada. Gabriel Christus / Denver Broncos

Gabriel Christus / Denver Broncos