Denver Broncos History

Denver Broncos History

In August 1959, minor league baseball owner Bob Howsam received an American Football League charter franchise as an award.



The Broncos won the very first AFL game over the Boston Patriots in 1960.

Despite this victory, the Broncos were not very successful overall in the 1960's. Denver almost lost the franchise in 1965, but a local group took over and rebuilt the team.

The Denver franchise had a rough start, and it wasn't until 1973 that it had its first winning season.

Coach Red Miller and quarterback Craig Morton took the Denver Broncos get to their first playoff in 1977.

In 1983, quarterback John Elway arrived on the team. Elway was drafted by the Baltimore Colts, but he said that he would abandon football to play baseball if they wouldn't trade him to a selected list of other teams, one of which was the Denver Broncos.

Before Elway joined the team the Denver Broncos had had over 24 different starting quarterbacks in 23 seasons. Elway remained the Denver Bronco's quarterback for five Super Bowls, and the team won two of them.

In 1997, new head coach Mike Shanahan and running back Terrell Davis helped the Broncos win their first victory in the Super Bowl.

In 1999, Elway retired. Since Elway's departure the Broncos have only had two losing seasons - 1999 and 2007.

In 2006, starting quarterback Jake Plummer was replaced by Jay Cutler. Cutler led the Denver Broncos to two victories that season. The Bronco's lost to the San Francisco 49ers, eliminating them from the playoffs. Cutler received a concussion during the game. (Just a few hours after the team lost, cornerback Darrent Williams was shot and killed near Speer Boulevard. Dre'Bly replaced Williams.)

Many injuries contributed to the Broncos missing the playoffs again in 2007.

In 2008, the Broncos won the first 3 games of the season, but they missed the playoffs again. Shanahan was fired and replaced by a new head coach, Josh McDaniels.

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