[USA Today Sports]
Today is the first of many non-football Sundays until the summer, and today makes last Sunday one week ago that the Broncos were outclassed by the Seahawks on Super Bowl Sunday. The horrors of last week remain fresh. There are many angry Broncos fans that felt they deserved better than this.
It’s going to take a long time until Broncos fans get over this Super Bowl loss. This is the same group that is still not over Rahim Moore’s error that paved the way for the Ravens to eliminate the Broncos. It’s understandable why Broncos fans would let last Sunday’s loss sting. The expectation was to win a championship, and it looked like the Broncos were going to win it until they gave in to the Seahawks’ physical play.
Time heals all wounds, eventually. New memories are made whether it’s good or bad. When the Broncos win a championship next season or few years from now, fans will have a proper perspective of how great this season was.
This Broncos team was fun to watch. No one can take that away. It was fun chronicling Peyton Manning’s moments week after week. Watching Demaryius Thomas, Julius Thomas and Wes Welker catch passes and run for touchdowns was a thing of beauty. This offense reminded me of the Greatest Show on Turf in the Rams. There were so many weapons on offense that defense had to stop.
It was good times. It made the football season go fast. It was good enough for the Broncos to go to the Super Bowl. This offense basically carried the team all season long.
Unfortunately, the offense picked a terrible time to have a bad game against the Seahawks. It wasn’t how bad they played, but it was how soft that unit was after Earl Thomas, Kam Chancellor, Bobby Wagner and Brandon Mebane hit that unit good. It would have been nice if the offense showed gumption against the Seahawks. It wasn’t meant to be. That’s sports whether fans like it or not.
It’s fair to hold this loss against the Broncos offense. They should have found a way to figure out the Seahawks defense. They should have made it a game. They should have scored more than eight points at least in this big game. Most people will remember this offense for being putrid in the Super Bowl.
With that said, let’s not lose sight how great this offense was. It’s hard to find so many playmakers. Many inept offensive football teams would love to have what the Broncos have on offense this season.
This offense could have a hard time duplicating this year’s numbers next season. That’s why it’s important to appreciate this offense for what it is. As Mile High Radio’s Gil Whiteley would say, these are the good old days. The days he was referring to when the Broncos were known to field good offensive teams.
It wasn’t long ago the Broncos fielded awful offensive teams under then-coach Josh McDaniels. As good as Tim Tebow was, people forget that offense wasn’t good enough, either.
That’s why this offense should be appreciated when cooler heads prevail. There won’t be an offense like this. It’s hard to create an offense.
This is why it was imperative the Broncos found a way to win the Super Bowl. That offense would have been best ever if they finished the deal against Seattle’s defense. Instead, they will be known as a soft offense. Perception is reality whether it’s fair or not. That Super Bowl outcome created a lasting memory.
It would be a shame if fans will look at this team as a team that bombed in the Super Bowl. It’s okay to look at it that way, but this group worked hard all season to be in this position by persevering and winning despite injuries. There’s something to be said about that, right?
Maybe some losing seasons can give a proper prospective.
If folks can get over the Broncos’ 55-10 loss to the 49ers in the 1990 Super Bowl, they can get over this year’s Super Bowl loss. As people get older, they get wiser and think rationally. They will look back as a season that was fun just like that 1989 season that was.
Right now, the Broncos have work to do to make the Super Bowl outcome a footnote.
Contact or follow Leslie Monteiro at @LightRodWriter.
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Leslie Monteiro
Leslie is a contributor for Lightning Rod Sports. He covered high school sports in Bergen County out in North Jersey, and has written op-ed columns on sports such as Bleacher Report and NY Sports Digest.
