The Denver Broncos have struggled for the past several years, but the recent trade for Russell Wilson has built new hope within the organization.
But the NFL is set up in a way that teams can use free agency and the draft to their advantage to quickly turn around their fortunes. Take this past season’s Cincinnati Bengals for example. After going 4-11-1 in 2020, the Bengals won the AFC North and advanced to the Super Bowl one year later.
it can be done and that is what the Broncos will be trying to do. Though it seems every year there is a team that goes from worst to first in their division, the Broncos have only managed the feat twice, and one of those came with a bit of an asterisk too.
The Broncos have gone from worst to first in AFC West just twice
Following a 4-12 season in 2010, which ranks among the worst in team history, the Broncos won the AFC West the following year despite just an 8-8 record, hence the asterisk. They did that while rallying behind ‘Tebowmania’ which took over that 2011 season in Denver but was unceremoniously derailed in the playoffs by the New England Patriots.
Still, it marks one of the only times in Broncos history that they have gone from last place in the AFC West one year to winning the division the next.
The other time came in 1991 during the John Elway era, a season that is easily lost in the shuffle across Broncos history.
Back then, there were five teams in the AFC West as the Seattle Seahawks were about a decade away from jumping to the NFC. The Broncos fell to 5-11 in 1990, one of the more extreme Super Bowl hangovers the NFL has ever seen.
The Broncos went to the Super Bowl following the 1989 season but were hammered 55-10 by the San Francisco 49ers. They seemed to let that loss impact the entire 1990 season as well.
But the team was back in 1991, going 12-4 to not only win the AFC West, but to make it all the way to the AFC Championship Game. The Broncos faced the Buffalo Bills on the road in that game and if not for three missed field goals by David Treadwell, likely would have played in the Super Bowl.
In each year that the Broncos qualified for the Super Bowl, they were no worse than second place in the division the year prior. They will be looking to buck that trend in 2022 and expectations are going to be sky high following the recent trade for quarterback Russell Wilson.