In the NFL, football never stops. You may win the Super Bowl on Sunday, have your parade on Tuesday and kick back and relax for a few hours on Friday, but by Monday, it’s back to the grind; whether that means the weight room or the tape room, there’s little time for celebration.
It takes 365 days to build a champion.
But if my math serves me right, that means we have just about three more days to live full-time in the 2015 campaign. So before we jump into the draft, free agency and the 2016 season, we owe it to ourselves to soak it all in, at least a little bit, don’t we? Maybe John Elway is already packing his bag for the combine, but us fans have some time to spare.
So with that said, here are the five most memorable moments from the Denver Broncos’ historic and unforgettable Super Bowl run:
Week 16: The Denver Broncos’ playoff-clinching OT victory
It may be easy to overlook now, but back in Week 16, the Denver Broncos looked nothing like a Super Bowl champion.
Coming off two disappointing losses to the Raiders and Steelers, Denver entered halftime against the Bengals down 14 points, putting their playoff hopes, let alone their Super Bowl hopes, in serious jeopardy. In fact, it was looking so dire in Broncos Country that Jon Gruden and Mike Tirico spent a good deal of the third quarter detailing just how badly the Broncos had botched their playoff chances.
That’s not exactly normal for a soon-to-be champion.
But then things clicked. The offense locked into gear, and the defense cracked down, sparking a 17-3 run in the second half and overtime that secured the Broncos a playoff spot and initiated the five-game winning streak which culminated in a Super Bowl championship.
Without that comeback, the Denver Broncos undoubtedly lose the No. 1 seed, and in all likelihood, they lose the AFC West crown, too. In any scenario, their road to the Super Bowl is made much, much tougher, and who knows what happens from there?
