The year that Terrell Davis had in 1998 will go down in Broncos lore.
After finishing the 1997 regular season as one of the best running backs in the game, Davis capped off that year by bringing a world championship to Denver. In 1998, he doubled his title total and joined the NFL’s most exclusive rushing club.
Davis was no longer just a nice story of an unknown prospect morphing into one of the game’s best runner, he was establishing himself as one of the premier running backs in the league during that time and entering the prime of his career.
But, the high points of his 1998 season were met in opposite of the lows of 1999. It always seemed that for as good as Davis was, his 1999 season should have been a continuation of establishing himself as the most dominant running back of his generation. Instead, like a drop of water in a pond, one injury changed the career trajectory of Davis and the Denver franchise profoundly thereafter.
Any running back would be happy to have the type of season Davis had in 1997, when the Broncos tailback topped 1,700 yards and earned Pro Bowl and All-Pro honors, not to mention a Super Bowl XXXII MVP. Davis took the 1998 season to a different level. Davis set a torrid pace, opening the year by rushing for at least 100 yards in seven of the first eight games, that had himself and Bronco fans wondering about his chances of hitting the magical mark of 2,000 yards in a single season. It was hard not to get caught up in that kind of talk with Davis having days like he had against the Seattle Seahawks and Dallas Cowboys, where Davis he out 208 and 191 yards respectably. Davis was a main catalyst for the Broncos jumping out to a 13-0 start that fueled the talk of being only the third team in the history of the team to finish the regular season undefeated.
A road loss late in the year to the upset-minded New York Giants ended the dreams of the undefeated season, and another loss the following week to the Miami Dolphins put the dream of the 2,000-yard season for Davis on hold as well. After totaling a season-low 29 yards versus the Dolphins, Davis went into the regular season finale against the Seahawks determined to gain momentum heading into the playoffs.
While the game itself had little bearing on the final standings for the year, Davis and the Broncos were bent on putting Davis alongside past greats O.J. Simpson, Eric Dickerson and Barry Sanders in reaching the mythical 2,000-yard plateau. In an inspired effort, Davis rolled out a 29 carry, 178-yard effort in front of a raucous home crowd at Mile High Stadium and joined that famed group of players, finishing the 1998 season with 2,008 yards rushing.
Although Davis didn’t have the same memorable postseason from the year before, he still managed to break the 100-yard barrier in each of the team’s three playoff games, including a yeoman-like 199 yards in a revenge win in the Divisional round at home against the Dolphins. Capping off another Super Bowl win versus the Atlanta Falcons, Davis ran for 102 yards as Denver rolled to a 34-19 win in the championship game. At the end of the year, Davis earned his third Pro Bowl nomination in as many seasons along with being named the NFL MVP for the 1998 season. As far as special seasons go, they don’t get much better than the one Davis had in 1998.
While John Elway would retire following that championship season, the Broncos still returned several key players from the past two championship-winning teams. Still, something was missing as the team got out to an 0-4 start. Davis never got off to the starts fans had seen the past few seasons. He didn’t have a single 100-yard game in the opening part of the 1999 season.
Davis got his big NFL break by making a tackle. Ironically enough, making a tackle put Davis on a downward trend for the rest of his career.
Davis suffered a season-ending knee injury covering a tackle on an interception return in a Week 4 loss to the Jets. It was one of many things that went wrong that year, Denver wouldn’t make the playoffs and fell to 6-10 that season.
The injury that befell Davis started a chain-reaction of other injuries that he never could get out in front of. While Denver fans didn’t get a chance to see Davis have Thurman Thomas-type longevity, they were still witness to one of the greatest four-year stretches that few players can lay claim to. Even today, writers are still talking about the immense joy he brought to Broncos Country in 1998 and the what-could-have-been effect his injury had in 1999.