10 Facts About……The 1988 Denver Broncos

July is the dead month in the NFL calendar. There is a month to go before training camp, and there will be little news to write about, so I figured it would be a good time to try something new. I decided to go back and write a column about a particular team in Broncos history. Each column will feature "10 Facts About" that particular team. I decided to take a different team from the era from which I started rooting for the Broncos (1984 to the present.) I randomly selected a team out of a hat. For the first column, I selected a team from the 1980s. Next time, I pick a team from the 1990s, after that the 2000s and so on and so forth. Today, I start the series off with 10 Facts About the 1988 Denver Broncos. This should be a fun way to kill time before training camp, and it will give Broncos fans something interesting to learn about a Broncos team from the past. Enjoy and maybe you'll learn something along the way. 

10 Facts About…….The 1988 Denver Broncos

1) The Broncos finished 8-8 and missed the playoffs after winning back-to-back AFC Championships in 1986 and 1987 and appearing in Super Bowls XXI and XXII. This was the first non-winning season for the Broncos since 1980 (Not counting the 2-7 1982 strike-shortened season.) 

2) Denver opened the season at home in Mile High Stadium against then division rival Seattle Seahawks and promptly lost 21-14.

3) The Broncos finished a dismal 2-6 that year on the road. Among those defeats featured some blowout losses in which they gave up 39 points to Pittsburgh, 55 points to Indy, 42 points to the Saints, and 42 points to Seattle. 

4) As defending AFC Champions, Denver played two Monday Night Football games in 1988. They lost Week 4 at home to the Raiders in overtime 30-27, and they got crushed 55-23 to the Colts in Indy on Halloween night. 

5) The Broncos leading rusher in 1988 was former Cowboy and future Hall of Famer Tony Dorsett. Dorsett ran for 703 yards and scored 5 rushing touchdowns that season. The Broncos leading receiver was Vance Johnson, who caught 68 passes for 896 yards and 5 touchdowns. Mark Jackson finished second on the team in receiving with 46 catches for 852 yards and 6 touchdowns. 

6) John Elway started 15 of 16 games in 1988 at quarterback. Gary Kubiak, Elway's longtime backup, started 1 game for the injured Elway. In Week 8 at Pittsburgh, Kubiak went 15-27 for 157 yards with 2 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. The Broncos lost 39-21 to the eventual 5-11 Steelers.

7) Speaking of #7 himself, Elway didn't have the best year of his career in 1988. Elway finished 274-496 with a completion % of 55.2. He threw for 3,309 yards and 17 touchdowns and 19 interceptions for a QB rating of 71.4 and an 8-7 record as a starter. That was probably one of the main reasons why the Broncos finished 8-8 and out of the playoffs.

8) The Broncos leading sacker for 1988 was old reliable Simon Fletcher. #73 finished with 9 sacks. Mike Harden led the team with 4 interceptions.

9) The Broncos best win for 1988 was when they defeated the eventual Super Bowl Champion 49ers in Week 6 in Candlestick Park 16-13 in overtime. Vance Johnson's 8 yard touchdown catch from John Elway tied the game at 13 in the 4th quarter, and Rich Karlis won the game with a 22 yard field goal. The Broncos worst loss came at the hands of the New Orleans Saints in Week 12. The 6-5 Broncos traveled to the Super Dome and got embarrassed by a score of 42-0. 

10) At 7-6, the Broncos still had a chance to win the AFC West and make the playoffs. They had to go to Los Angeles to play the Raiders in Week 14 and Seattle in Week 15 to have a chance to win the division. Denver lost to the Raiders 21-20 in LA in a game in which they were down 21-0 only to rally to make it 21-20 before losing. This was before the NFL adopted the 2-point conversion, so Denver trailed 21-13 when they scored a touchdown in the 4th quarter, but the Broncos had to kick an extra point instead of having the opportunity to go for 2 and tie the game at 21. The Broncos followed up this loss with a resounding defeat at the hands of the Seahawks on ESPN Sunday Night Football the following week in Seattle. The Seahawks jumped out to a 28-7 lead at the half before cruising to an easy 42-14 win over Denver. Seattle won the division at 9-7 after defeated the Raiders in LA in final week of the season.