Thoughts on the Denver Broncos

Denver has been to the AFC title game 10 times.

Seven of those games were in Denver.

The Broncos are 6-1 in those games.

Of the 5 previous times Denver won the AFC title at home, here is what happened in the Super Bowl:

XII:  Dallas 27, Denver 10

XXII:  Washington 42, Denver 10

XXIV:  San Francisco 55, Denver 10

XXXIII:  Denver 34, Atlanta 19

XLVIII:  Seattle 43, Denver 8

So in those five games, Denver was outscored 186-72.  Their only victory was over the worst team ever to win the NFC.

Some people say this is about choking.  But it’s not.  The truth is that those Denver teams weren’t very good, and benefited enormously from their home field advantage and/or the general weakness of the AFC.  Check out these scores:

1977:  Denver 20, Oakland 17

1987:  Denver 38, Cleveland 33

1989:  Denver 37, Cleveland 21

1998:  Denver 23, Jets 10

2013:  Denver 26, New England 16

2015:  Denver 20, New England 18

In my opinion, Denver was not the best team in 1977, 1987, 2013, or 2015 – they only won because of home field advantage (and, in 1987, thanks to one of the worst fumbles in NFL history).  Their victories in 1989 and 1998 came over two of the worst teams ever to reach the AFC Championship game.

This year, there were probably three teams in the AFC better than Denver:  the Steelers, the Chiefs, and the Patriots.  But once Denver got ensconced in its mountain fortress, where no one else can breathe, that was all she wrote.