What an absolute roller coaster being a Denver Broncos fan is, and I LOVE IT!
I guess my journey began in 2007 when I met Jamie and Denver became the obvious team to follow having never really had one since falling in love with American Football in the 80s watching it with me mum. Although I remember John Elway and the Broncos getting to the Superbowl we just watched in awe of the whole thing, and it’s a shame Sky and pay per view meant we stopped watching it, losing touch with the NFL completely.
Annoyingly, now, looking back between watching with mum and meeting Jamie the Broncos won 2 Superbowls, which I have watched many times since, but it’s always better watching sport live and I would have loved to have been a fan and seen Elway win the big one live….twice.
In November 2008 I visited Jamie and sat and watched Cutler and Marshall win against the Browns with Pam and really got into routing for the team.
Fast forward to Sunday and needing to win against the Chargers to earn the number one seed in the AFC I now try to watch every game live loving the thrill and suspense rather than knowing or trying to avoid the outcome and watching it later.
In 2010 we took Reagan to watch them play San Francisco at Wembley which was not a great game losing 24-16 with Kyle Orton at quarterback scoring a consolation TD in the forth quarter in reply to the 49ers 3 in the same quarter.
My passion grew with every season willing Cutler, Orton then Tebow to light up the franchise, the latter throwing a bomb to 88 Demarius Thomas in the 2011 wildcard round for a walk off victory and making me believe that great things were ahead, only to lose to the New England Patriots in the Divisional Round. It was exciting and there was hope that we could improve the following season with all the pieces in place to push on, then everything changed!
Peyton Manning signed becoming the starting quarterback, and showed me how the game could actually be played if you have an ‘elite’ signal caller at the helm. 2012 was spectacular to witness by a fan who did not realise that football could actually look easy even if it was indeed very difficult. Losing to the Ravens in OT in the Divisional Round at home was gut wrenching but now I was all in, this was going to be a fantastic ride.
2013 was record breaking, with the offense putting up numbers never seen before and by the time we took to the field for Superbowl XLVIII it was merely a formality that the sheriff would bring a third Lombardi trophy back to Denver. That hope was extinguished in 17 seconds and Jamie and I went to bed very disappointed that night.
2014 brought more records but losing to the Colts in another Divisional game ended another great season prematurely. Then came 2015 and the No Fly Zone defence complimenting (some would say carrying the offense) with the Manning window closing.
Winning Superbowl 50 was the first time I had supported a team that won the biggest prize in anything and I got to watch every second of that season live. It was so much fun, even when Manning was injured and Oswieler stepped in at QB, he held it together until Peyton could return to seal the deal, with a little help from his friends.
Knowing what it can look like spurred me on to watch every game live for the next ten years even when the team went from the greatest, to a laughing stock with a head coaching carousel after Kubiak stepped down Vance Joseph and Vic Fangio both struggled but the appointment of Nathaniel Hackett, I think to lure free agent Aaron Rogers to Denver completely backfired and Denver made the worst mistake bringing Russell Wilson which in my opinion was trying to salvage rather than move forward.
The new owners came in 2022 with all their money and inherited a franchise in trouble on the field but only tolerated it for 15 games sacking the head coach before the end of the first season in charge. Lincoln did get to see his first live Broncos game at Wembley beating the Jags 21-17 meaning the whole family have been to a game.
Sean Payton was acquired, although ‘retired’ he was open to the challenge and the Saints got a first and Second round draft pick to let him go, and the Walton Penner ownership & Denver got their man. I just wonder what the owners thought at 0-3 after a 70 – 20 thrashing by Miami in his first season in charge if they had any doubts?
I had my doubts especially with Vance Joseph back in Denver as Defensive Coordinater was Hackett actually the problem but things began to change after that game I think that was the catalyst although we went on to miss the playoffs for the 8th season running with an 8-9 record Sean had steadied the ship and kept the coaching staff the same knowing it will work. The biggest decision that season was to bench Wilson he was not the future even though he was still the biggest dead cap hit in NFL history he had to go!
The last two seasons have been fun to watch again drafting well with limited picks and unable to make any big free agency signings due to the cap, the turn around had begun and Bo Nix was going to be the central piece of the Sean Payton era in Denver. There have been offensive struggles it hasn’t always looked pretty but ending the 2024 season 10 and 7 and making the playoffs as a wildcard was a great achievement after an 0-2 start. The Bill in Buffalo were too much for us and it was disappointing not to compete after scoring first, but there was hope the a bright future loomed.
As I write this we have just played the Chargers and are number 1 seed in he AFC with a 14-3 regular season record and having won 11 straight games up to week 16 losing to the Jags before winning the final 2 games. We got to go and see them play live again this season at Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium beating the Jets 13-11 in a poor game but that doesn’t matter what a day we had!
Its great to watch a winning side and I am hoping with home field advantage we can make it count in the playoffs ? whatever happens I will be watching and cheering them on.
#GoBroncos #Bolieve
