ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- At first blush, it looks like some kind of off-kilter football math.

How do 46 regular-season wins plus four consecutive AFC West titles plus three 12-win seasons not equal success for the Denver Broncos? They did equal some success, including four straight trips to the playoffs and a few commercials for Denver's well-known quarterback.

But the totals did not equal the success executive vice president of football operations and GM John Elway wants. And, they are not what Elway thinks owner Pat Bowlen would want from him.

That list is short and clear: a Super Bowl trophy.

"The bottom line is this organization, and what Pat Bowlen wants from this organization -- that has not changed and it will not change," Elway said two days after the Broncos' lopsided loss in Super Bowl XLVIII last February. "The bottom line is we're going to work as hard as we worked this year, if not harder, and continue to do that with the mindset that we want to be world champions and we're going to do everything we can to get there."

So less than 24 hours after the Broncos lost to the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC divisional round, three wins short of their goal, coach John Fox met with Elway. And now, Fox is no longer the team's coach. It was formally announced as a parting of ways, but here's part of Elway's statement, and it's going to look familiar:

While we have made significant progress under Coach Fox, there is still work to be done. I believe this change at the head coaching position will be in the best interest of our long-term goal, which from day one has been to win World Championships. Our organization is fully dedicated to reaching Pat Bowlen's high standards for his team as we begin the process of finding the next head coach to lead the Denver Broncos.

That's the math, as in one goal, one trophy. Everybody in the league says they want it. But Elway and the Broncos just walked the talk.

The Broncos have parted ways/fired/moved on from a coach who won 46 games and only finished first in the division. Fox helped restore order after 2010's 4-12 disaster that included the Spygate II scandal. He brought a steadying hand and returned humanity to the Broncos' Dove Valley complex; people in all parts of the organization felt like their contributions mattered.

But the playoffs, where his record was 2-3 with Peyton Manning behind center, got Fox. An inexplicable report Sunday that Fox could be "available" should the Broncos lose to the Colts was a significant domino as well.

There were those with the team who believed somebody in Fox's camp or Fox himself was the source, and that made it appear as though he was planning on losing before a down had been played. Then, the Broncos went out looking disjointed and sluggish. And, like in the Super Bowl XLVIII loss and double-overtime divisional round loss to Baltimore in 2012, they didn't seem to have it in them to rebound from adversity.

The Broncos were the AFC's No. 1 seed twice in the past three years, No. 2 this year. They had home-field advantage twice. They had a team that spent big in free agency and drafted well, even finding players such as Chris Harris Jr. and C.J. Anderson as undrafted rookies over the past four years.

But they had two Super Bowl trophies in their nicely appointed lobby in 2011, and they still had two this morning.

And that little bit of math is the biggest number of all.