Mike Shanahan is one of the hardest coaches to predict when it comes to offensive backfields.

Selvin Young rushed for 36 yards in Week 1. (Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

He proved that once again on Monday night, as the Broncos started Selvin Young but rotated him with Andre Hall and Michael Pittman. Hall led the team in carries (10), but Young scored a touchdown.

Of course, Pittman scored two.

It’s a situation that could cause fantasy owners headaches throughout 2008.

Denver had been a running backs heaven in the past, but that hasn’t been the case in recent seasons.

Shanahan’s offense didn’t field a 1,000-yard back in 2007, and Tatum Bell’s 1,025 yards in 2006 was lost on a lot of owners because he scored just two touchdowns. Mike Bell, who rushed for 677 yards that season, was the goal-line runner and found the end zone eight times.

With backfield committees rampant and no clear-cut featured runner like Terrell Davis or Clinton Portis, don’t be shocked to see Shanahan use Young, Hall and Pittman in a rotation throughout the season.

On a positive note, the team has found a quarterback in Jay Cutler who’s on the verge of becoming a real superstar. He threw for 299 yards and two touchdowns against an Oakland team that was supposed to field one of the NFL’s top pass defenses.

I loved Cutler in the preseason, and he’s becoming a must-start fantasy option.

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