Why We Can’t Give Up Yet

One of the differences between the mindsets of Broncos fans and other (ahem, Chiefs) fans is the definition of a successful season. For the Broncos coaches and players, nothing short of a Super Bowl Championship is acceptable. We’ve had 2 successful seasons and 39 failures since the merger. There’s no other way to put it.

At 3-5, the season looks lost. If we were in a division like the AFC South, with 7-1, 6-2, and 5-3 teams each, it would be.

Luckily, we’re not. We’re in the AFC West, with a collective record of 13-19. One game behind first place, and if the Chargers lose to the Colts (which many expect they will), we’re a Week 10 win away from holding the lead in the division through tiebreaker.

Three 4-5 AFC West teams would sit at the top, and the Broncos would have the edge.

Many then ask, “Why would we want to just make the playoffs? Why win the division just to get destroyed in the playoffs?”

My answer is simple. Anything can happen in January.

Anything.

The past two Super Bowl Champions are perfect examples of this. The 11-5 Steelers entered the playoffs as a sixth seed Wild Card team. They traveled to Cincinnati, to Indianapolis, and to Denver to sweep the playoffs. At one point they were riding a three-game losing streak, but bounced back to win 8 in a row, including Super Bowl XL.

Heading into the playoffs, it was all Indianapolis talk, weeks removed from their own perfect season media frenzy. No one thought the Steelers could do what they did.

Last year’s Indianapolis Colts and our Denver Broncos this year share something in common – the league’s worst rush defense at the time. Yet the Colts took their battered, horrible defense and shut down the likes of Larry Johnson, Jamal Lewis, Laurence Maroney, and Thomas Jones to win a Super Bowl.

Heading into the playoffs last year, no one, myself included, thought the Colts could do what they did. San Diego was the media darling, with their huge winning streak and #1 seed. How could that horrible rush defense possible push to win it all?

In January, though, when it mattered most, the Colts came out and played.

Why can’t these Denver Broncos do the same?

Once the playoffs begin in January, I don’t care about statistics through the season. I don’t care about records. I don’t care if we’re 8-8 or 9-7 and welcoming a 13-3 Titans club. All that matters is that we have a home playoff game, and are 4 wins away from a world championship.

So I’m still all about 2007. I’m not thinking about next year, I’m not playing for draft choices, and I’m not giving up on this team this year. I’ve seen us play amazing football at times. Unbeatable football.  Consistency is the issue, and if we can play to our own level, I truly still believe we can make a run. Thank goodness the AFC West is weak enough where we can still find ourselves in January, but until we’re mathematically eliminated from the playoffs we’re not out of the Super Bowl discussion.

Win the West.  Start the playoffs with a clean slate.  Impossible as it may seem after so many tough losses, we’re still in the thick of the AFC.

So I still believe.