ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Joe Lombardi was born nine months after his grandfather died to a nation standing vigil in 1970.
Still, it must be pretty cool to be a grandson of the great Vince Lombardi.
“Unfortunately, he died before I was born so I never knew him,’’ Lombardi said Tuesday in his first press conference as the Broncos’ new offensive coordinator. “My peer group is probably a little young to really appreciate what he accomplished so it was never like a huge deal to me – I never felt like I was living with chasing a legend or anything. My older brothers had to deal with it a little bit more than I did.
“But it was always something where you’re proud of what he accomplished. If anything you knew that if you got in trouble people were going to notice you more than if other people got in trouble. It probably kept us in line a little bit as young kids. But you grow up in that environment, football gets in your blood, which is probably a big reason why I chose this profession.”
Vince Lombardi is widely recognized as the greatest coach in football history. In 1960, he took over a Green Bay Packers team that was the NFL’s worst at 1-10-1 the previous year and immediately led them to a 7-5 record. The Packers reached the NFL Championship Game in Lombardi’s second season when they lost a hard-fought contest to Chuck Bednarik’s Eagles.
Lombardi then won five NFL championships, including the first two Super Bowls, over his next seven seasons before retiring with an 89-29-4 record. After a year sabbatical, Lombardi became Washington’s head coach and again turned the team from 5-9 the previous year to 7-5-2 in his first season of 1969. He was diagnosed with cancer while coaching in his first and only season in Washington and died less than a year later on Sept. 3, 1970 at the age of 57.
His son, Vincent T. Lombardi Jr., and his wife welcomed their fourth child, Joseph Philip, on June 6, 1971.
Joe Lombardi grew up in Seattle – his dad worked for the Seahawks for a time – and played his college ball as a tight end at the Air Force Academy. He served four years of active duty and still keeps his hair cropped military short. He then embarked on a coaching career that took him to four colleges, the XFL and four NFL teams before he hooked up for a third stint with Broncos head coach Sean Payton as a top offensive assistant.
Joe Lombardi ventured out on his own to be the offensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions from 2014-15 and the previous two years for the Los Angeles Chargers. A quarterbacks coach for Payton for 10 seasons over two stints in New Orleans, Lombardi is the Broncos’ offensive coordinator now, tasked with helping his head coach and quarterbacks coach Davis Webb deliver a comeback season for quarterback Russell Wilson.
“As you look at what happened last year, a lot of it was injuries,’’ Lombardi said of Wilson, who posted a career-worst 4-11 record and 27th-best passer ranking in his first season with the Broncos in 2022. “So, it’s about staying healthy. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but for June 14, we’re really happy with where he’s at. There’s some muscle memory that we have to overcome. He’s used to doing things a certain way and we’re presenting a new way of doing things.
“He shows up every day ready to work. He’s the same guy every day—same attitude, and he’s really fun to work with. I think the answer for him is what the answer is for everyone: Work hard every day, get your fundamentals down and understand what you’re trying to accomplish. So far, it’s been really good.”
Having been in the Kansas City-dominated AFC West the previous two years with Justin Herbert’s Chargers, Lombardi knows as offensive coordinator that winning inside this division requires scoring big to keep up. A touchdown and two field goals doesn't do it. The Broncos’ offense finished 32nd in scoring last season, so they have a long way to go if they want to keep pace with the Chiefs, Chargers and Raiders on the scoreboard.
“That’s a challenge,’’ Lombardi said. “The Chiefs—you don’t expect them to have any step back. They are a team that has been doing really well for years and scoring a lot of points. The last couple years, we had some shootouts with them and it’s never over. We’ll have to be on top of our game.”
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