Pat Bowlen's biggest mistake was trusting a corporate snake like Joe Ellis. One of his biggest decisions was to bring in Josh godforsaken McDaniels. That should've ended with Ellis following McDouche out the door, but unfortunately Bowlen was already in a compromised state and Ellis already had his claws in. He's going to make this as painful and difficult as possible to retain his tenuous grasp of power, and has already threatened to blow it up (i.e. sell the team so NONE of the kids get it).
I suppose Ellis gets some credit for bring John Elway back into the fold, which did result in a Super Bowl win, but I'm still not sure if that was ultimately a good move or a bad one.
Life lesson, those of you with kids: Figure out your estate plans, make those plans firm, and don't be a dick about it. My grandfather passed back when I was around 12, and I remember the absolute dogfight that ensued afterwards. I loved my grandfather dearly, but it was an absolutely stupid and selfish move for him to just pass on estate planning and leaving everything to my grandmother, who didn't have the time, energy, or desire to deal with the partition of the estate. Thankfully cooler heads prevailed and the family remains close but that was ugly for a good many years. Can't even imagine how awful it would've gotten had it involved millions and a friggin' NFL franchise.