The Denver Broncos playoff history goes beyond the career of John Elway to the 1970s and makes a stop in the ‘80s where promise ended badly three times over. The time most Broncos fans want to remember is in 1997 and 1998. Those years saw coach Mike Shanahan guarantee his job for years to come. John Elway’s brilliant career was coming into its twilight, but the future Hall of Fame quarterback lacked a championship to cap it off. In 1997 the Broncos went 12-4 and earned the wild card spot out of the AFC West. Broncos playoff tickets matched the team up against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the first round. With a resounding 42-17 victory the team set the tone for the rest of the postseason. They would go on to win the Super Bowl 31-24 over the Packers. The following year, Elway again visited the Super Bowl and won, this time coming away wit the Super Bowl MVP.
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This season Cutler will need to have an MVP type season to guarantee Broncos playoff tickets. The team is talented, but the offense is young. The traditionally powerful and respected offensive line has passed the torch on to new players and Ryan Clady. Ryan Harris, and Chris Kuper to build the line of the future. Without a new line, Selvin Young may not be as effective as he could be and Jay Cutler may not be able to buy the time to find Brandon Marshall or rookie receiver Eddie Royal down the field. The good news is that the defense is a solid unit that will make games at Mile High Stadium close contests. Dre Bly and Champ Bailey are two great cornerbacks, D.J. Williams is a force as the weak side linebacker, and Dewayne Robertson and Elvis Dumervil are the anchors of the defensive line.
The schedule against the AFC West will give the Broncos basically four guaranteed victories against the Chiefs and the Raiders, but the two games against the Chargers will be the real test to see if the franchise is ready again to order playoff tickets. The fall from grace by the Patriots has every team seeing a chance to chance to make a postseason run. The Broncos will have to contend with other great teams in the AFC, but has the advantage of playing in a weaker division that will not inflict as many losses on the team. This simple scheduling fact give the Broncos the boost they need to return to the postseason.