By Niko Bryant
Let’s take you back to the year 2016. “Closer” by Chainsmokers is the Song of the Year. The first season of Stranger Things has graced our screens. Captain America: Civil War and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story were released. And the two idiots who run this show and blog website were finishing their last year of high school and about to begin college. It has been nine calendar years since Peyton Manning rode off into the sunset in 2016, calling it a career. One of the most notable franchises in football history has not recovered since any of these things happened.
That is until Bo Nix and Sean Payton walked through those doors in Dove Valley.
A team built of no-name talent and players written off by other teams did something this franchise hasn’t done in eight NFL seasons. There is meaningful football being played in the month of January in Denver, Colorado.
The Walton Penner Ownership Group
I’d be negligent to begin this blog without speaking about the Walton Penner Ownership Group first and the rebuild of this franchise since purchasing the team in 2022. Since the unfortunate decline in health and passing of previous owner Pat Bowlen in 2019, this once-great franchise has been seen as one of the laughingstocks of the NFL. That is, until the Walton Penner Group walked through the doors.
Having an ownership group willing and able to invest time, money, and effort into rebuilding the franchise to its former glory during the Bowlen era cannot be stressed enough. This group continues to fund first-class facilities and build toward the future while honoring the greats who donned the Bronco helmet in the past.
Sean Payton’s Impact
Eight coaches in NFL history have been traded for. It’s a MASSIVE gamble to trade assets to ensure that the most important position in a franchise, outside of players, is filled with the right individual. Sean Payton, in his first two seasons, has proven why he’s a Hall of Fame-level head coach and why he found such success in New Orleans with Drew Brees. Molding this team to his vision of success came with criticism. Taking on the largest dead cap hit in football history by cutting ties with Russell Wilson or making difficult decisions to move on from Pro Bowl-caliber players like Justin Simmons and Jerry Jeudy was not for the faint-hearted. Sean Payton has put his stamp on this team, and one of the youngest rosters in the NFL can thank him for bringing the Broncos back to the playoffs.
The "No Name Crush"
The “No Name Crush,” as Jon Gruden recently dubbed this team, is filled with young, exciting talent hungry to win and eager to put a winning product on the field. Headlined by the likely Defensive Player of the Year, Pat Surtain II, on defense and Bo Nix, the sixth QB taken in last year’s draft, on offense, these players embody what it means to be a Bronco—something the last eight seasons have lacked. Surtain and Nix have led each side of the ball with humility and passion, steering clear of flashy slogans or personal office spaces in the practice facility.
Building a winning culture is not easy, and it’s going to take time and effort to sustain this success. Players like Nik Bonitto and Marvin Mims Jr. represent the team’s future. Watching Bonitto sack Mahomes for the next decade or seeing Mims return punts for 40 yards while making jaw-dropping one-on-one catches is a vision we can all get behind. This team boasts the league’s best young talent with even more room to grow.
However, no one deserves this playoff berth more than Courtland Sutton and Garrett Bolles. These two players have endured every hardship this team faced. Their professionalism and hard work have finally paid off in a big way.
Overcoming the Odds
A 5.5-game expected win total. Odds-on favorite to pick first in next year’s draft. An $80 million dead cap hit. Six head coaches in eight years. Fourteen different starting quarterbacks since 2016. This team was given no chance of even reaching .500, let alone making the playoffs. The growth of this team will only improve, and its leadership and young talent development will make the Broncos a force to be reckoned with for years to come.
The Path Ahead
Heading to Buffalo to face the MVP of the last playoff game you played in, Von Miller, will be no easy task. But this Broncos team is hungry, and they’re playing with house money. Everything after this moment is better than what we’ve endured since 2016. So why the HELL NOT? Let’s keep this train moving and shock the world again.
