Broncos Team of the Decade

It is hard to believe that only last Sunday was the Super Bowl. The first Sunday without football was brutal, and it is a long offseason ahead of us. With the uncertainty of the Collective Bargaining Agreement and the issues that will affect Free Agency, there isn't a lot of sense to spend too much time on what Denver will do in the offseason. We will talk about that in March. Also, the draft is a long way off, so we will spend time on the draft in April. With all this down time, it gives us a chance to look back at the decade that passed. I am a sucker for end-of-the-year retrospectives, and there is nothing better than an end-of-the-decade review. I will breakdown each team from the decade-starting from worst to first, and I will look back at the highs, lows, and what-ifs for each team and season. Let's start with Number 10:

10) 2007 Denver Broncos:

Record: 7-9

Points Scored: 320 (20.0)

Points Against: 409 (25.6)

Highlight: The Broncos started off 2-0 with down-the-wire victories over Buffalo and Oakland, and they beat a very good Pittsburgh team on Sunday Night Football to get to them to 3-3, but the high-water mark would have to be the Monday Night victory over Tennessee 31-20. The win put the Broncos at 5-5 and tied them for first place in the AFC West with San Diego.

Lowlight: The Broncos got smoked at home to San Diego 41-3 to put them at 2-3. They also got buried at Detroit later in the year 44-7, but the real low moment was when Denver lost at Chicago in Week 12 37-34 in overtime to put them at 5-6. Denver lead 34-20 in the fourth quarter, but they gave up a punt return and a kickoff return to Devin Hester, and they also let Rex Grossman drive the length of the field to send the game into overtime at 34. Once in overtime, Grossman again drove the Bears deep into Denver territory, and it set up Robbie Gould's game-winning field goal. Denver fell to 5-6 and never recovered, while San Diego won the rest of their games to finish 11-5.

What If?: For me the big question for Denver was if they had won that classic Monday Night game over Brett Favre and Green Bay. Denver dominated most of the first half but they only produced 10 points. Trailing 13-10 late in the fourth quarter, Jay Cutler put together a great drive, but he missed an open Brandon Marshall in the corner of the end zone, and Denver had to settle for a field goal. In OT, the Packers won the toss and on the first play, Brett Favre hit Greg Jennings with an 82 yard bomb and the Pack won 19-13. If Denver wins that game, then they are 4-3 coming off two quality wins over Pittsburgh and Green Bay. I think that win might have at least propelled them to a possible winning record.

9) 2001 Denver Broncos:

Record: 8-8

Points Scored: 340 (21.2)

Points Against: 339 (21.2)

Highlight: The Broncos opened 2-0 with two blowout wins over the New York Giants (Defending NFC Champions) 31-20 on Monday Night Football and Arizona 38-17 on Sunday Night Football. The win over the Giants was special because it was the first regular season game ever at Invesco Field. Those two national primetime victories put Denver on a lot of people's radar as a possible Super Bowl team in the AFC.

Lowlight: At 5-4, Denver had a chance to get a wild card run going in the AFC, and they looked like they would get their sixth win with an easy victory over a bad Washington Redskins team at Invesco. The Broncos jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the second quarter, but gave up two fourth quarter touchdowns to Kent Graham and the Redskins beat the Broncos in Denver 17-10. The loss put Denver at 5-5, and they finished 8-8.

What If?: The biggest injury that year was to Ed McCaffrey. The Broncos lost the All-Pro the first game of the season against the Giants. After that injury, Denver's offense really get on track the way it was supposed to. Rod Smith basically carried the offense by himself, and losing McCaffrey really hurt Brian Griese. Terrell Davis was off and on all year long, and the Bronco offense never lived up to their potential. The result was a predictable and average offense and an up and down team with a mediocre record.