A BRIEF HISTORY OF... THE DENVER BRONCOS... REDUX

With the Broncos headed to the Super Bowl for the second time in three seasons, how about we dust off that article I did on the them a while back and make it better? Cool? Cool.

Starting Up: Bob Howsman owned the minor league baseball team the Denver Bears, and in 1959 expanded Bears Stadium to 34,000 seats in preparation for hosting a team for the upstart Continental League. But as I mentioned in the Mets profile, the Continental League went tits up before it even started.

So Howsman now had a stadium fit for a major league team that didn't have a major league tenant and was too big for a minor league team like the Bears. So how do you fix that mess? Get in the football business apparently.

Howsman lobbied the NFL to bring an expansion team to Denver, but George Halas rejected him. Halas wouldn't let Howsman in the club, so Howsman got some "friends" together and started his own club. This collection of fools wound up forming the American Football League, and the Denver Broncos, Howsman's team, was one of its charter franchises.

So yeah, the Broncos, and by extension an entire professional sports league, was started up because of rich people getting in a dick measuring contest with each other. This should surprise exactly none of you.

Greatest Runs

The Orange Crush Era (1976-1981): The Broncos adopted the 3-4 defense before the 1976 season (where there are three defensive linemen and four linebackers on the field) and laid waste to opposing offenses. Led by players like Lyle Alzado, Randy Gadishar, Tom Jackson and Louis Wright, the Broncos' D secured the team it's first playoff berth, division title and Super Bowl appearance, all in the 1977 season.

Elway Comes to Mile High (1983-1989): John Elway was selected with the number one overall pick in the 1983 NFL draft by the Baltimore Colts. Elway, however, wanted nothing to do with playing in a crappy stadium while on a crappy team owned by an acerbic drunk. So the Colts traded him to the Broncos in exchange for offensive lineman Chris Hinton (who was the Broncos' first round pick that year), backup quarterback Mark Herrmann and a first round pick in the following year's draft.

Elway, to put it mildly, completely justified his first overall selection by leading the Broncos to the playoffs in his rookie season and the following year rocketed the Broncos to their first division title since 1978. To close the 80s out, the team went to three Super Bowls in four years.

The Most Dominant Team in Football (1996-1998): Coach Mike Shanahan took over an extremely talented Broncos team in 1995, and, by the following year, turned the team into one of the best of the decade.

The Broncos won 39 games between 1996 and 1998, the most ever over a three year span. Led by a now much older and savvy John Elway and an historically-dominant running game, the Broncos finally won their first Super Bowl after the 1997 season. Then they did it again the next year.

The 1998 Broncos were one of the best teams of the Super Bowl era, winning a team high 14 games in the regular season and thoroughly dominating its competition in the postseason (the team's smallest margin of victory in their three postseason games was 13, and they outscored their opponents 95-32).

Manning Comes to Mile High (2012-2015): Upon being released by the Indianapolis Colts following the 2011 season, Peyton Manning signed with the Broncos (Hall-of-Fame quarterbacks seem to have a habit of falling into the Broncos' laps by way of the Colts). Manning was coming off of major neck surgery and had missed the entire 2011 season. There was no telling if he'd be as good as once was, or even league average due to the injury.

After the team went 2-3 to start his Broncos career, Manning proceeded to go into beast mode and shattered NFL records while the team has gone 48-11 in the regular season since the first five games of 2012. The Broncos gambled on Manning returning to his pre-injury form and won big time.

Even after Manning's play started to decline, the Broncos completely overhauled their defense to the point where it became one of the best units in the league rather than one of the weakest. Even with Manning more closely resembling an embalmed husk of his former self, the Broncos remain a force of a team thanks to their D.

Leanest Years

The AFL Years And A Bit After As Well (1960-1972): The Broncos were a charter member of the AFL and never caught a break in its ten year history. The Broncos accumulated an appallingly bad 39-97-4 (.287) record during their time in the AFL, far and away the worst record among the original eight AFL teams (the Boston Patriots had the second worst record, but had 24 more wins than the Broncos).

Things didn't improve upon entering the NFL— if anything, it got worse because the Broncos flirted with respectability. The Broncos started the 1970 season with a 4-1 record. They finished the year off in last place in the AFC West with a record of 5-8-1. Over the next few seasons, the Broncos were merely bad or mediocre with no other pretensions suggesting otherwise.

The Post Elway Era (1999-2008): This one is kind of cheap, because the Broncos were actually one of the more successful teams in the NFL during this period, give or take a couple of seasons. But it must be mentioned due to the sheer amount of tension that existed in the locker room during the last ten years of Mike Shanahan's stay as head coach.

After John Elway retired, the next ten years in the mile high city consisted of Shanahan finding a quarterback, replacing that quarterback with a new one, then going back to the first one, then the second one, rinse, repeat. As such, just about every Broncos signal caller had a public feud with Shanahan.

Yes the team still won games, but it wasn't nearly as successful as it was in Shanahan's first years as head coach, and that was mainly due to the fact that Shanahan was the oil to the Broncos' quarterback's water.

The Josh McDaniels "Era" (2009-2010): Shanahan was fired after the 2008 season and was replaced with New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. Any hope that McDaniels would not bring baggage to Denver were quickly dashed when McDaniels, in a remarkable display of shortsighted hubris, drove starting quarterback Jay Cutler, star receiver Brandon Marshall and running back Peyton Hillis out of town.

However, all the animosity fans may have had towards the Broncos' new coach were quelled when the team started the 2009 season 6-0. The animosity came screaming back when the team collapsed after returning from their bye week and finished the season 8-8 and missed the playoffs, making them just the second team since 1990 to start a season 6-0 and miss the playoffs.

But not to worry! McDaniels had the solution to the team's troubles: Florida quarterback and First Take leg-humping victim Tim Tebow! Despite the addition of DeMaryius Thomas earlier in the first round, the Broncos still struggled (even with Tebow's enviable ability of throwing wildly inaccurate passes). (To be fair, Tebow only started three games that season and the team tanked mostly due to having statically the worst defense in the league that year. Still, Tebow? Really?)

After a 3-9 start to the 2010 season, with a videotaping scandal thrown in for good measure, McDaniels was fired and the Broncos finished the year 4-12. That's the worst record during a full 16 game schedule in team history.

One more indignity— cornerback David Bruton is the only player taken by the Broncos in McDaniels' 2009 draft currently on the team's roster. And he's one of just two from that team draft that's currently still in the league. Out of ten. No good.

Names You Should Know

Lionel Taylor: The first truly good Broncos player. Taylor was one of the best receivers in the history of the AFL— his 567 receptions were the most in the history of the league. Taylor was the first player in pro-football history to catch at least 100 passes in a single-season. While a 100+ reception season isn't that big of a deal now (at least one player has caught 100 or more passes every season since 1990 except one), Taylor and the Oilers' Charley Hennigan were the only two receivers to accomplish this feat until Art Monk did it in 1984.

All in all, Taylor led the AFL in receptions five times in six seasons, in spite of the Broncos' quarterbacks being astoundingly bad, even by the standards of the era. He had six seasons where he caught at least 70 receptions, twice as many as the second-place guy at the time of his retirement (Steve Largent was the only other player to have at least six such seasons in the first twenty years after 1968). He went to three AFL All-Star Games and was named 1st Team All-Pro four times— all with the Broncos.

Floyd Little: The Franchise! Little was drafted by the Broncos in the 1967 Common Draft between the NFL and AFL. Little immediately made an impact by being named as a team captain during his rookie season. When he retired, his 6,323 rushing yards, while unimpressive today, was the seventh-most ever gained by a running back to that point.

It must be stated that Little was a huge deal for the Broncos, as he was the team's first real star, giving fans a reason to go to games. His number 44 was retired by the club (he was just the second player to receive that honor after inaugural quarterback Frank Tripuka's number 18) and he was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2010.

Lyle Alzado: One of the best players on Denver's famed Orange Crush Defense. Alzado was one of the greatest defensive linemen of his day. According to his Wikipedia page (I know, I know...), he recorded 112.5 sacks, 24 forced fumbles and nearly 1,000 tackles, all unofficially (those stats weren't officially kept until near the end of Alzado's career or after his retirement). He went to two Pro Bowls and was named 1st Team All-Pro once during his Broncos career.

If you do know about Alzado, it's probably because he was one of the first professional athletes to admit to using anabolic steroids, which he cited as the instigator for the brain cancer that ultimately killed him. He wasn't the only football player to have used steroids during his career, but he'll likely never make the Hall of Fame because of his use of the drugs.

Tom Jackson: Before you ask, yes, as in "ESPN's Tom Jackson." Before he babbled incessantly on television screens, Tom Jackson kicked the shit of people as part of the Broncos' famed Orange Crush defense. Jackson played for a long time and was one of just four players that played for the Broncos in both Super Bowl XII and Super Bowl XXI. All in all, Jackson was very durable, playing in 191 of a possible 207 games (92.3%). No defensive player has played more games for the Broncos than Jackson.

Randy Gradishar: The best linebacker from the Orange Crush era of Broncos teams. Gradishar played ten seasons and went to seven Pro Bowls (do the math) and was selected 1st Team All-Pro twice. He was one of the most respected linebackers of his day (if his Wikipedia page is to be believed; that's a LONG legacy section) and is one of the best eligible players that isn't in the Hall of Fame. There's no way I did him justice with this blurb. Seriously, look him up.

Louis Wright: Another Orange Crush Bronco. Wright was an early version of what today is known as a shutdown corner, basically making life hell on the passing game that went his way. He was routinely mentioned as one of the best cornerbacks in the league at the time, along with Mel Blount and Mike Haynes. Wright's claim was knocking passes down, which unfortunately for him, wasn't officially recorded as a statistic by the NFL at the time, which is probably the thing that's kept him out of the Hall of Fame. He is in the Broncos' Ring of Fame, but he probably deserves to be in Canton as well.

Rick Upchurch: The greatest return man of his day. Upchurch led the league in punt return touchdowns three times and his eight career total was tied for first all-time when he retired in 1983. He led the league in punt return yards once and punt return yards per game three times. He also went to four Pro Bowls and was thrice selected 1st Team All-Pro. All in all, a fantastic career.

Dan Reeves: The Broncos' coach from 1981 to 1992, and the one who crafted them into one of the most consistently good teams in the league. The Broncos under Reeves won five division titles and earned six playoff appearances while posting double-digit wins seven times and just two losing records. Reeves guided the Broncos to three Super Bowls in four years in 1986, 1987 and 1989, although the Broncos were usually handled in embarrassing fashion in the Big Game. Reeves coached uninterrupted  from 1981 until 2003, and currently ranks ninth all-time in coaching wins with 190.

John Elway: THE Denver Bronco. Elway spent his entire 16-year career with the Broncos after orchestrating his way out of Baltimore as detailed above. In that time, he cemented himself as one of the best quarterbacks in football history and is still in the top ten in most relevant quarterback records.

Elway suffered terrible defeats in his first three Super Bowls and often played terribly on the biggest stage. However, his career ended in Cinderella fashion when the Broncos won back-to-back Super Bowls from 1997 to 1998. Elway was named MVP of Super Bowl XXXIII, the final meaningful game of his career (he played in the 1999 Pro Bowl a week later).

His number 7 was retired by the team and he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2004. And now he's the president of the whole damn team! It's good to be John Elway.

Karl Mecklenburg: Arguably the best defensive player during the Elway era. Mecklenburg was the AFC's equivalent of Mike Singletary— he was an absolute beast that tackled everyone in sight and picked his teeth with the bones of orphans. I can't confirm that last one, though.

Mecklenburg also compiled 79 sacks, the most ever recorded by an inside linebacker since the sack became an official statistic in 1982. He was selected to six Pro Bowls (second-most of any linebacker in team history behind only Randy Gradishar) and was 1st Team All-Pro three times (the most of any Broncos linebacker).

Shannon Sharpe: When he retired, Shannon Sharpe was, at least from a statistical standpoint, the greatest tight end in football history. Then Tony Gonzalez went and obliterated all of his records. Such is life for a pro athlete.

But that shouldn't diminish what an amazing career he had. He retired as the Broncos' all-time receptions leader (which is pretty freaking remarkable for a tight end). He was the first tight end to record at least 10 seasons with at least 50 receptions (he had 11 such seasons— Antonio Gates, Jason Witten and Tony Gonzalez are the only other ones to do so). Sharpe is also tied with Lionel Taylor for the most 1st Team All-Pro selections in Broncos history with four. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011.

Mike Shanahan: The winningest coach in Broncos history with 138 wins. Shanahan feuded with just about every quarterback he ever coached either publicly (Bubby Brister, Brian Griese, Jake Plummer, and most recently Robert Griffin III in Washington), or privately (Elway). Another quirk of his was a seemingly innate ability to be able to turn late-round or undrafted running backs into 1,000 yard rushers (most famously and effectively with Terrell Davis). Despite his control freak tenancies, Shanahan is one of only six coaches to win back-to-back Super Bowls and has the twelfth-most wins for a coach in football history with 170 (tied with Tom Coughlin, at the moment).

Terrell Davis: He only played seven seasons, but he's one of the best running backs in NFL history. Davis was scary dominant from 1996 to 1998. He won an MVP, two Offensive Player of the Year awards, a Super Bowl MVP, and rushed for 5,296 yards and 49 touchdowns. The Broncos offense went through TD, and without him, I doubt very much that those Broncos teams could've made those Super Bowls, let alone win them.

His career was tragically cut short when he destroyed his knee making a routine tackle in 1999, and he only had four seasons of spectacular play. Despite this, he's been finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame just about every year of his eligibility and will likely go in at some point. Rightfully so.

Rod Smith: The Broncos' most visible receiver in the post-Elway era. Smith was one of the better receivers in the league during his career, placing fourth, fifth and seventh in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns from 1995 to 2006. He went to three Pro Bowls in his twelve year career, all with the Broncos. If you think of a wide receiver in the 2000s, he'll probably come up at some point.

Champ Bailey: A cornerstone in the Broncos' secondary for a decade and an almost-guaranteed future-Hall-of-Famer. Bailey was traded to the Broncos from the Washington Redskins after the 2003 season and preceded to have some of the best seasons of his career.

All three of his 1st Team All-Pro selections came in his first three seasons with the Broncos and he intercepted 21 passes in that span. His twelve Pro Bowl selections are the most ever for a cornerback and he is one of just 39 players to have intercepted 50 or more passes in his career (he swiped 52 pass attempts when it was all said and done).

Five Current Guys You Should Know

DeMaryius Thomas: The Broncos' first selection in the 2010 draft, and probably their best receiver. Thomas didn't really make a peep in the NFL until the 2011 playoffs, when he caught the game winning touchdown in the Broncos' overtime home victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. While sadly making people forget that Tim Tebow was a terrible quarterback, the play showed how talented a receiver Thomas truly is.

With the arrival of Peyton Manning the following season, Thomas' career really began to flourish. Since 2012, only the Steelers' Antonio Brown has more receptions and receiving yards, and Thomas is one of only four players to haul in at least 41 touchdowns. He's the only receiver in the last four years to record totals of at least 400 receptions, 4,000 receiving yards and 40 touchdowns. Plus, he's gone to three Pro Bowls.

Von Miller: The second overall pick in the 2011 draft, Miller has steamrolled his way into opposing quarterbacks ever since. He has 60 sacks in his first five seasons— just the sixth player in history to have that many in so little a time (and only the third linebacker to do so). Miller also has the rare distinction for being selected to a Pro Bowl in his rookie season while also being named the 2011 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.

Miller has recorded double-digit sacks every season of his career except one (his 2013 season, in which he only played nine games due to a drug suspension and an ACL tear, respectively). He's been selected to four Pro Bowls and two 1st Team All-Pro lists. And since he's been one of the most disruptive defensive players in the game for a while now, he'll likely keep piling up impressive accomplishments over the next decade.

Peyton Manning: Arguably the greatest quarterback in football history. Manning's 2013 season was one of the greatest single-season performances for a quarterback in history. He threw for 5,477 yards and 55 touchdowns, both NFL records. In just his Broncos career alone, he has thrown 140 touchdowns to just 53 interceptions, and 17,112 yards.

Manning is likely to retire after the Super Bowl (even if he doesn't, he's probably not coming back to the Broncos). It's for the best, since he'll be 40 in March and this past season was the worst of his career (not counting his 2011 season, in which he didn't play at all due to a neck injury). Still, if he does go off into that good night, he leaves behind a career where he threw for more yards and touchdowns than any player in history, won five MVPs (also a record) and won (at least as of this writing) one Super Bowl and went to four total. That's a Hall-of-Fame resume, to put it mildly.

Derek Wolfe: Another strong player on a dominant Broncos defense. Wolfe has 17 sacks and 144 total tackles through his first four seasons, to go along with four batted passes. While his numbers don't leap off the page, Wolfe clears up room for the other pass rushers to wreak havoc. And the team really likes what he can do, as evidenced by the fact that they just locked him up through the rest of the decade.

DeMarcus Ware: One of the best pass rushers of the last decade. While Ware isn't as dominant as he was while playing for the Cowboys (in which he had 117 sacks, nearly 600 total tackles and forced 32 fumbles while being named 1st Team All-Pro four times in five years), he's still pretty good. He's made the Pro Bowl in each of his two seasons in Denver, and has recorded 17.5 sacks. Plus he's going to his first Super Bowl. It's good to be DeMarcus Ware.

Stats found on pro-football-reference.com.