Woody Paige: What might have been ... Broncos could have been Super Bowl three-peaters

The Broncos must be in LX Feb.

8, 2026.

They won Super Bowl 50 at Levis Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.

Ten years after the Broncos can win Super Bowl 60 at Levis Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.

And the Denver NFL franchise should have been the first to three-peat (TM) in the XXXI, XXXII and XXXIII Super Bowls.

The Broncos have reached the championship game eight times.

Nevertheless, on Sunday, they sit, sulk and stare for the ninth straight season.

The Superdome in New Orleans, site of Super Bowl LIX (Licks), has been cruel to the Broncos.

They lost their first, XII, by being Orange Crushed by the Cowboys 27-10, and were demolished in XXIV by the 49ers 55-10 still the most lopsided loss in Super Bowl history.

The Broncos also are tied for third worst defeat (in 48 to the Seattle, Washington team 43-8) and the fifth foulest (to the Washington D.C.

team 42-10).

But the Broncos are on the track back to the Bowl.

The playoffs were the first phase.

What the Broncos have gotten again is (A) an owner willing to spend every dollar he has amassed to bring a title to Denver, (B) a coach who already has led a team to a championship, (C) a first-round quarterback who proved he can play and win, (D) a roster that includes solid veterans, solid youths who are trending upward, Pro Bowl contenders and a defensive player of the year and (E) a renewed faithful fandom following.

In the tradition of the late Pat Bowlen, Mike Shanahan, John Elway, Peyton Manning and Louis Wright, the Broncos have brought together Greg Penner, Sean Payton, Bo Nix and Pat Surtain II, and a general manager in George Paton who has overcome his mistakes, miscues and miscalculation about Russell Wilson.

What the Broncos need now is (A) a tight end to replicate the talent and tenacity of Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe, who was drafted out of Savannah State seventh in 1990, (B) a running back who can copy Hall of Famer Terrell Davis, the Broncos second selection behind Fritz Fequiere (who?) in 1995s sixth round, or even a C.J.

Anderson who wasnt drafted at all and signed as a free agent, (C) a safety who can become another Steve Atwater a 1989 first-round choice named to eight Pro Bowls and who was a valuable member of two Super Bowls-winning teams and (D) an inside linebacker who would study Hall of Famer Randy Gradishar.

The Broncos already have seven Pro Bowl-worthy players in Surtain, Nik Bonitto, Zach Allen, Quinn Meinerz, Courtland Sutton, Marvin Mimms and Nix.

Four more would provide the Broncos with an All-Pro kind of 11-man bunch as a potential Super Bowl contender.

The starting lineups on offense and defense of the 1996-1998 and the 2012-2016 Broncos were that type of title team.

In fact, those Elway, then Manning Broncos that reached four Super Bowls should have been in six.

Elway forever regrets a 1996 playoff game, and Manning will never forget a 2012 post-season game.

Elway refuses to return to New Orleans or even discuss the 55-10 game, but the one that haunts him is the 30-27 playoff loss to the upstart Jaguars in old Mile High Stadium.

At the end of the first quarter the 13-3 Broncos led 12-0 (with a blocked extra point and a failed two-point conversion).

But Jacksonville scored 20 in the next two quarters and blanked the Broncos.

Despite two touchdowns in the final 712 minutes the Broncos suffered a stunning upset.

The Broncos recovered to beat the Jags (42-17) a year later, then win back-to-back Super Bowls, but could have been historically great as the only NFL team to ever win three in a row.

Manning and his 13-3 Broncos had their mystifying moment in new Mile High when the Ravens scored on a Hail Mary, Hell-No, 70-yard touchdown with 31 seconds remaining to tie the Broncos 35-35.

In the second overtime the Broncos quarterback threw an interception, and Baltimore kicked the triumphant field goal.

The Broncos would advance to the Super Bowl the next season and fail, but prevail in Super Bowl 50.

Both Elway and Manning retired after championship victories.

But two more got away.

Is Nix next to win a Broncos Super Bowl in LX?.

This article has been shared from the original article on gazette, here is the link to the original article.