There are no happy Denver Broncos fans right now.
From owner Pat Bowlen to Head Coach Josh McDaniels, through the ranks of coaches and administrators and all the players in the locker room, including all fans near and far who are feverish in their support of Broncos Country, everyone is disappointed.
And one of the reasons for this is the team’s success.
The final 8-8 record was as good as or better than almost all media members predicted, but due to the way the season unfolded it ended badly.
But they all end badly when you don’t finish in a championship game.
So let’s take a look at why we all feel so bad.
The Denver Broncos began play in 1960 and did not have a playoff season until 1977.
That year the Orange Crush defense led Denver to its first playoff and first AFC Championship as Broncomania reached fever pitch.
Since and including that 1977 campaign the Broncos have won regular and postseason 202 games at home. That total of 202 home wins over the past 33 consecutive years is the most home wins that any pro, college, or high school team has ever won in any 33 consecutive seasons in the history of the sport of football, in the history of the world.
It’s the most — 202.
And in that time the Broncos have won seven AFC championships and gone on to play in six Super Bowls—it might not seem like as much as we would like, because it did not happen NOW, but only the legendary Dallas Cowboys franchise has participated in more Super Bowls than have the Broncos. Further, Denver is one of just six NFL franchises to have won back-to-back world championships.
And of course, along the way, the Broncos went undefeated for a calendar year, 52 weeks, from the end of 1997 through most of 1998, both years ending with bling.
I know these stats don’t make us feel any better, but they show us where we have come from, where we have been, and therefore where we want to be.
We consider it our right, part of the natural order of things to have a winning season and make the playoffs. And no one from Pat Bowlen on down would want it any other way.
The standard stays high, and that is how it is always going to be.
The tradition of the Denver Broncos is a barometer for our success and subsequent happiness.
Remember, if you are a Bronco season ticket holder and have been to every game since 1977, you have seen more home wins than any fan of any team over any 33-year period in the history of the sport.
So let’s respect the past, embrace the tradition and push toward future success. But we have to do it together.
When that success then comes, everyone involved knows he or she was rowing in the same direction, and that makes the triumph that much sweeter.
Tags: Head Coach Josh McDaniels, Week 17
To Bleed orange and blue is a privledge! GO BRONCOS!!!!!
It’s time to get that home field advantage back in Denver. I posted this on another site this week. The numbers are disconcerting.
John Elway, following Sunday’s home loss to the Kansas City Chiefs raised what has been an issue for the Broncos ever since they moved to Invesco Field and turned Mile High Stadium into a parking lot. The homefield advantage is fading fast. Even mediocre Broncos’ teams in the past seemed to have an advantage at the old Mile High. Since 2001, when Denver moved to Invesco their home records have become progressively worse. Denver is 49-25 including the playoffs at home since moving to Invesco Field. However, the past four seasons have been particularly troubling as Denver has lost to bad teams at home during the latter stages of the seasons which include losses to San Francisco, Oakland twice, Buffalo and Kansas City.
Home Records for the Broncos During Their Last Five Seasons at Mile High Stadium
1996: 8-0; 0-1 playoffs (crushing home loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in the AFC divisional playoff game)
1997: 8-0; 1-0 in the playoffs en route to a Super Bowl XXXII victory
1998: 8-0; 2-0 in the playoffs en route to a Super Bowl XXXIII victory
1999: 3-5; (the year following John Elway’s retirement)
2000: 6-2; (started 1-2 at home then ripped off five home wins in a row)
Home Records for the Broncos at Invesco Field
2001: 6-2 (Marty Schottenheimer wins in Denver as the Redskins defeat the Broncos 17-10. Of course, it happened at the friendly confines of Invesco Field.)
2002: 5-3; (lost games in the final seconds to Miami and Indianapolis and got blown out by Oakland 34-10 on Monday Night Football)
2003: 6-2; (includes a 10-19 loss to a bad Chicago Bears team)
2004: 6-2; (includes a 24-25 loss to a bad Oakland Raiders team)
2005: 8-0 regular season; 1-1 playoffs (a 17-34 loss in AFC Championship Game to the Pittsburgh Steelers.)
2006: 4-4 (includes a devastating overtime loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the home finale when Denver needed a win to qualify for the postseason.)
2007: 5-3; (includes an ugly 3-41 loss to San Diego)
2008: 4-4; (includes a 23-30 loss to Buffalo when a Broncos’ win would have clinched the AFC West division.)
2009: 4-4; (0-3 against divisional opponents at home for the first time in team history)
These numbers are telling. If the Broncos want to become an elite team again, they have to regain their homefield advantage particularly against divisional opponents, especially ones with inferior records.
As always, thanks for the perspective, Jim. It still stings right now, but this helps. We’ve got a lot to be proud of and a lot to build on.
Thanks for the information Jim, and as you mentioned I’m a little disappointed with the 8-8 record at the end of the season only because of the 6-0 start. But very few people thought that the Broncos had a chance to finish better than 3-13 or 4-12 after Cutler was traded. I believe that Everyone with the organization from Mr. B. all the way down to the water boy will do everything in their power to bring this team back to CHAMPIONSHIP level as soon as possible, or they will not be with the organization for very long.
I LOVE MY BRONCOS AND ALWAYS WILL even after Alsheimers(spelled incorrectly of course) sets in. LOL
GO BRONCOS every year!!!!!!!
Both Mr. Saccomano and RSH did a fantastic job with the home field stats to help us appreciate both sides of the story, Jim does it as his job, but even more impressive RSH did all that research purely as a fan, I am truly impressed.
Mr Saccomano points out that we are the winningest franchise in all of football in the last 33 years, an incredible feat and we are so appreciative of that, no wonder it felt like we had a winning team for most of that time.
On the other hand RSH brings up the troubling fact that things have not been so rosy at home since the move into Invesco, specifically the last 4 years where our home record is 17-15. That is a very troubling trend, and frankly I didn’t need the stats to know that we have done poorly at home as I experienced it time and time over the last 4 years, 15 times to be exact.
No matter how great the past has been, I agree that this fast declining home advantage is a key component to regain if we want to once again be competitive in our division. Another record that was addressed by neither is the fact that it is the first time ever, I believe, that The Denver Broncos have won all their division games on the road and lost all the home ones, very troubling indeed. I trully appreciate the the PR job accomplished here by Mr. Saccomano, but in the same breath, I think it is equally important not to lose site of the Invesco factor so everyone, owner, team, fans, can do whatever is necessary to regain that good old home field advantage. I don’t know exactly what it will take, some tweaking of the stadium, a team that plays it like it is home and fans who act like it, whatever it takes we need to all get it done. Thanks to both, I enjoyed reading it all, it is a very important subject to open a discussion on.
Actually, RSH did mention losing all the division games at home this year is an all time Bronco record. He didn’t miss much, did he?
It should be another wild offseason. I think Marshall will be traded and I think we’ll find out what the coaching staff thinks about Tom Brandstater because we should be compinsated with a number 1 for him. Orton will get a 1 or 2 year deal with the future franchise QB sitting patiently behind him. If not Brandstater I really like the skill set I see out of Mallet if we could land him… However, I think we need to go middle of the defense early… Perhaps ILB Rolondo McClain from Alabama?? Watch him tonight. He’s an animal.
Tomorrow night.
It seems like in the last ten years that a lot of people from Denver have moved to Wyoming and the surrounding states while people from LA, Pittsburgh and other cities have moved into Denver.
Maybe the influx of people from other cities has diluted the Bronco fans in Denver and ultimately at the stadium on game day.
The company I work for has season tickets to the games. My boss, who is a Greenbay fan and five other customers that are not bronco fans were there last Sunday for the KC game. I’m pretty sure that they weren’t there to cheer for the Broncs…
Rolando McClain will be a top 5 pick. Unless we trade up, we won’t have a shot a drafting him.
Thanks for the information Mr. Saccomano. Don’t forget the Steelers have participated in 7 Super Bowls and the Patriots are now tied with us with 6 appearances. Cowboys of course have made 8 appearances.
@ Orange_Crusher, there are many reasons for the demise of the Broncos’ home field advantage. Some of it has to do with changing demographics within the City of Denver concerning transient transplants from other cities. It may also have to do with how much easier it is to book airfare and buy football tickets online now with the progression of the Internet in the past decade. At the same time, Broncos’ fans are not what they used to be at home. I don’t care what anyone says. Many sell their tickets to opposing fans, which they have a legal right to do, but it is still annoying. The fans definitely aren’t as loud as they were at the old Mile High Stadium. That place along with Arrowhead Stadium in its heyday were the loudest stadiums in the NFL. I am tired of seeing so many opposing teams’ fans invade Invesco Field particularly Cheeseheads and Terrible Towel twirlers. It’s pathetic, and more than likely won’t change. The Broncos will have to find a way to regain their home field edge while dealing with the fact that they won’t always have as many Bronco partisans in the stands as they’d like while realizing that the noise level found at Mile High Stadium more than likely will never be recaptured. Finally, I am tired of all the booing of the home team. This year was one of the worst I’ve ever seen in that regard.
rbf1, excellent correction. I also would like to mention that perhaps the most impressive of the Super bowl teams is not even listed, the 49ers, because they won all 5 super bowls they played. Of course The Steelers at 6-1 are not too shabby either.
Talking SB stats, it is interesting to notice, even so not flattering, that we have allowed more points in SB’s than any other team, 206 to be exact. In comparaison, next up with also 6 SB’s is N-E allowing 165 points while the Cowboys allowed 132 points in 8 games! Now, that’s some D in clutch games….
On the points scored part of it, the Cowboys scored the most with 221, followed by the Niners with 188 in 5 games, half of it against us in the 1989 SB, LOL. Just joking…
49ers won all 5 that’s quite impressive. Interesting stat baylinor. I know we gave up quite a bit on our first four losses.
I know I havent been on for awhile no I didnt lose faith in our team I was behind them the whole season and I still am I cant wait to see are draft class who we pick up in free agency and what we do when the pre season starts. I hope Bmarsh stays and that dawkins dosnt retire yet I think next year we will go 10-6 but thats just a prediction now before anything happens as always and im sure as every bronco fan dos I wish for a undefeated season and a super bowl win.
I too think that the fans Booing in recent times is a real downer. I know as fans we expect a lot, but I never Boo my favorite team. If anything I yell at them like my local town baseball team did when I was a kid. “Good job, it’s okay, we’ll get ‘em next time” and “Come on, beat them down!” was something the fans yelled at us. It was either subtle trash talk to the other team or encouraging disappointment. I hear fans now screaming how much they’re team is sucking and boos and stuff.
I know Invesco isn’t as loud as mile high, but it’s still pretty damn loud. They say it didn’t shake as bad as the old stadium did from the crowd roar, but still shakes when they fans get going. Just look at the cameras shaking from the noise when you watch a game sometime. It’s ridiculous, even compared to the louder stadiums in the league.
What we really need I think to recapture fans in Denver is another iconic fan. Ones that sit in the same seat every game, are recognizable, and screams Broncos fan. We had great fans when the Barrel man was still in the stadium, and it seemed to quiet down after his retirement from the barrel, and with his recent passing away (RIP) fans seem to not be as Pro Bronco as before. Now, that’s just my observation.
I do like how we are looking as far as the future. I mean, most people haven’t looked at it this way, but for the last 3 years before this one, we had a system everyone was familiar with, A coach that was seasoned and knew the way around the game and was the 2nd winning-est coach in the NFL besides Bill Bilichick, and a team everyone was familiar with.
Those years we went 9-7, 7-9, and 8-8. With all of that behind them.
This year, nearly half of the team was new, the whole team was told they were to learn a whole new playbook and system, we had a Rookie Head Coach, Lost Jay Cutler, and Got Kyle Orton, got new staff, and a whole slew of rookies.
We still managed, somehow, to finish 8-8. And keep in mind that all of that happened without Jay Cutler, with a supposedly much worse quarterback, with everyone having to relearn everything with a coach who is just trying to figure out what it takes to be a successful Head Coach.
Pretty dang impressive in my opinion. And there’s one thing that I thought was up. People keep saying Kyle Orton will never lead us to a Superbowl win and we need to get rid of him and trade him for some picks or another quarterback.
I’m tired of it. In my opinion, no one can judge anything about K.O. until he has a second season to use the system that everyone just learned. I must say, I am very impressed he did as well as he did. Had he been the only one needing to learn it is one thing, but to come in with everyone needing to learn everything and to go 8-8 is pretty good. I’m going to go ahead and say it. We need to keep Kyle Orton. I know everyone is going crazy about what I just said right now, but we need him. I don’t think that he deserves to be the Broncos Franchise QB, but I really think we need him as a backup QB. So far, our back ups are Simms and a Brandstater, who was a rookie. We need some depth at quarterback, and we need KO for a backup at the least. Give him a 2 year contract, let him compete with another QB for starter next year, and after that if he doesn’t win the job, get rid of Simms and use him to be backup until we can see if Brandstater can lead someday.
Go Broncos.
I LOVE THIS TEAM AND ALWAYS WILL GOOOOOO!!! BRONCOS!!!!! AN ELITE QB PLEASE=)
I have always been privileged to watch Broncos games on almost a weekly basis all the autumns of my life. As one who tries to be a historian myself, you’re an inspiration to me, Jim. I need to remember to implement Mr. Bowlen into my prayers on a daily basis. He is the best owner in sports and I want nothing but more Lombardis for him and you, all the good people in the organization. Let’s do this together. GO BRONCOS!!!
I don’t really post on here but do enjoy reading all of the comments left. I myself am really disappointed on many facets of how the season turned out. Play calling in certain situations left me perplexed on exactly what Mcdaniels was trying to accomplish. I think that we really need to get back to the Broncos of old and figure out how to the be potent high scoring offense that we once were. I think the D will gel even more during the offseason and step up like we played during our 6-0 run. Been a die hard Bronco fan my whole life….but still I sit today really disappointed
I’ve been a Broncos fan of 28 years and I will be until the day I die and beyond. The Broncos have my support, it is just the coach that I don’t trust. His play calling was questionable too many times this season. I never bought that excuse of being that Larsen was hurt he didn’t use Hillis as a running back just in case Larsen was injured again he would need another fullback. The Broncos could have used Hillis in busting through the narrow holes and dragging a guy or two while still gaining yardage. I understand that he is just a young coach, but he seriously needs to knock off the Bilichick wanna be clone status and not try to make this Patriots West. Yes the Broncos finished with more wins than I or alot of other people imagined. However to lose to three divisional opponents at home was an embarassment. I have had enough of McDaniels giving vague answers, alienating players and questioning their physical toughness. The last time I was so disgusted over a Broncos season was the two years that Wade Phillips was coaching that were among the worst.
When we think of Broncos history we cannot forget the 1995 campaign. During that year we had a “great” receiver named Anthony Miller and our #1 running back was Rod Bernstein. We had a head coach who had been accused of unethical behavior during his time here as offensive coordinator under Dan Reeves. Although we played well that year at times, we also lost some tough games and suffered embarrassing defeats. Rod Bernstein was hurt that season and we had to start a rookie from Georgia at running back. Very few pundits thought the Broncos had a bright future. After all, the Broncos had been 9-7, 7-9 and 8-8 over the three year period ending that season.
At the end of that season, Anthony Miller left the team because he was unhappy with the organization. An undrafted receiver named Rod Smith was elevated to starting status and we brought in a slow receiver named Ed McCaffrey. On the defensive side a “washed up” linebacker and defensive end were brought in the rescue what was one of the worst units in the NFL at the time. At the beginning of the 1996 season, most NFL analysts thought the Denver Broncos were a franchise in decline. Elway was at the end of his career; his physical abilities diminished by time and we had no talent at wide receiver and a horrible defense. We went on to finish 13-3, 12-4 and 14-2 over the next three years with two world championships.
I believe the coaches, players and entire organization learned a great deal from the 1995 season. They were not afraid to cut loose disruptive players for the good of the team. They used the disappointment of 1995 to build a team for the ages. Doesn’t history seem to be repeating itself?
Broncos_Bill, you sure have a fantastic outlook and I hope it comes to fruition. BTW, the 96 season is when we lost our chance to make NFL history, with the outrageous loss to Jacksonville in the wild card game at home we gave up the chance of going on and winning the first of what would of been three SB’s in a row. I always say, IMO, that was the worse loss in our franchise history. We were dominant that year and let Brunnel hand it to us big time, that was aweful, unfortunately I will never forget that loss, but the team learned so much from it, well it’s history now, but we came close to be the best ever, can’t say we didn’t have our shot, it was a once in a lifetime thing, of course we didn’t know that then, but that’s how it turned out to be.
@Broncos_Bill:
While I certainly like the thinking you are peddling, keep in mind that despite all the questions about age/declining ability, at that time we had John Elway at the center of that team, who is undisputably one of the greatest QB’s ever.
The cupboard is pretty empty now in comparison. Orton is at best a game manager, Simms is a worthless waste of money and Brandstater is a late round flier. Even if we did decide to draft a top prospect to fill the QB position, it would be unlikely that rookie would be ready, or even given the opportunity, to step in immediately.
Time marches on….I will always be a Broncos fan. I will always remember the great hands of Eddie Mac and his ability to move defenders out of the way while carrying the ball farther than Elway threw it.
New stars will come in. The game goes on.
Just a couple of comments:
1st/Foremost – I am and always will be a Denver Bronco fan
2nd – Article stated 7 AFC Championships, it’s actually 6
3rd – Home Field Advantage for the Broncos is non-existent for a multitude of reasons. It’s discouraging, particularly when the Steelers visit town that their fans practically outnumber Bronco fans. I think the decision to disband the South Stands during the move to Invesco was a horrible mistake but it can’t be un-done.
4th – What have you done for me lately? In the last 11 seasons, the Broncos have won 1, that’s ONE divisional championship. That is clearly a damning number. Since the 1998 season, the Broncos have not even been factors within their own division.
5th – The team really lacks any identity. The only identity I can discern is the trend to start seasons impressively (3-1, 4-1, 6-0) only to fade down the stretch.
Lastly, the Denver Broncos, for the last 11 years (save 2005) have been non-factors in the NFL. They no longer rank as among the elite in the NFL and it just plain sucks. I’m hoping for better times in the future but do not see it happening any time soon.
Meanwhile, we’ll just have to keep driving the road of Bronco Country on the fumes of past successes.