It seems obscured now, in the afterglow of all those close wins and the mini-quarterback controversy and a fairly shocking run back to the Super Bowl. But just over a year ago, the Denver Broncos were a team without a coach, and a quarterback.
They, to some degree at least, lacked leaders in critical roles and were negotiating the uncomfortable arrangements of what will surely become Peyton Manning's final days in Denver, and they were tugging at the heartstrings of Gary Kubiak to come back home to the Rockies and bolster the Lombardi vision that his old buddy, John Elway, was trying to craft. They were getting ready to wave goodbye to top contributors like Julius Thomas and Terrance Knighton in free agency and standing on a precipice of sorts, with another season of unfinished business eating away at Elway and the powers that be.
For these Broncos to be back in the Super Bowl, a year after a humbling loss to a modest Colts team in the 2014 postseason -- yet another one-and-done for Manning, this one once again at home, and a loss that relegated Elway's former comrade John Fox to be deemed no longer worthy of coaching this Lombardi-or-bust outfit -- was anything but a given. Indeed, it has defied the odds in more ways than one.
For Manning to have another shot to be the oldest quarterback ever to win a Super Bowl, and for him to get another crack at bolstering his legend following a devastating loss to Seattle the last time he ventured this far into the playoffs, is improbable enough. For all of Elway's bargains to have paid off -- when six weeks ago, at the height of Brock Osweiler's stint running this offense, all of this seemed remote at best -- is another testament to his instincts and chutzpah when it comes to roster construction and team building.
But it's worthwhile to at least consider just where the Broncos were last February, in the not-so-distant past -- when the organization was sorting through yet another playoff letdown, and the future was far from certain.
Lest we forget, it took no shortage of awkward negotiations and strained exchanges and outside flirtations to get back to this point, four quarters away from a title, or another heartache. It was not without compromise. It was far from pretty.
Word leaked out, through one of John Fox's closest confidants in the media, just prior to the Broncos hosting the Colts last year in the Divisional Playoffs, that this was likely the end of the Fox/Elway marriage. Anything short of a Super Bowl win and the organization was going to move on from him. It was over. Relationships were strained, Elway thought he could do better and indeed, following a brutal, 24-13 loss to a Colts team that through the prism of time seems patently flawed, it became a fait accompli that Fox would move on. The sides agreed to part ways, and Fox took the highly unusual path of walking away from his remaining years and salary to simply leave. You tend to know when you are no longer wanted, and he ended up making more money a few weeks later when he remerged as the Bears' new head coach (tip of his hat due to agent Bob LaMonte, in the process).
Elway always had his sights on Kubiak, a friend for more than half his life at this point, a man who had helped show him the ropes of playing quarterback in the NFL early in Elway's Hall of Fame career. This was someone who thought the same way as Elway, someone with head-coaching experience and someone who would bring an offense that Elway loved as a player and continue to focus more heavily on a run game that was becoming increasingly important as Manning's skills eroded (just as Elway's did when he managed to finally win the Lombardi at the end of his career). Kubiak would get it. They would be simpatico.
There was just the matter of him taking the job.
Kubiak, who suffered serious health issues at the tail end of his stint coaching the Houston Texans, had fallen into a very comfortable spot with the Ravens as their offensive coordinator. Under his tutelage, quarterback Joe Flacco flourished, Baltimore rediscovered its run game, journeyman running back Justin Forsett performed like a Pro Bowl player, receiver Steve Smith was reborn and the Ravens came close to another AFC Championship appearance of their own. He and his staff liked it there, and early in the offseason Kubiak released a statement that he would not be pursuing any head-coaching openings or interviewing for any jobs.
Then his ol' buddy came a callin. Elway had a siren song unlike anyone else; this went way beyond football, and this was always Kubiak's job for the taking. The Broncos interviewed rising offensive coordinator Adam Gase, though he was never really in line to get the job and ended up with Fox in Chicago. They talked to Bengals secondary coach Vance Joseph -- which put them in compliance for the Rooney Rule -- and had a fallback interview with Doug Marrone scheduled (he was always a bridesmaid this past offseason again), but only if it somehow didn't work out with Kubiak.
No extensive negotiations were necessary once Kubiak agreed to have dinner with Elway. A deal was quickly struck a week after Denver's playoff ouster. All Kubiak had to say was yes, and once he arrived in Denver, everything else was a mere formality.
The dance with Manning, however, took much longer.
Elway became convinced the team needed a change of offensive direction before Thanksgiving 2014, after a thrashing by the lowly Rams in which Denver went pass-happy and Manning was pounded (he hasn't ever really been the same since). Elway tore into his coaches, sources said, demanding more balance, knowing Manning would not hold up through January and into February at this rate, and indeed the Broncos became much more ground oriented down the stretch. Manning was pedestrian at best in the loss to the Colts in the postseason (26 of 46 for 211 yards -- a horrid average of less than 5 yards an attempt -- with one touchdown).
Manning's days of making $19 million a year were over. If Tom Brady could play for $9 million a year on his new deal at the height of his powers, many in the Broncos' organization wondered, why couldn't Manning, now in decline, do the same? It would allow them to perhaps keep Demaryious Thomas and Julius Thomas and address the offensive line and stay as strong as possible for one more Super Bowl run as constructed. Manning would have none of that, nor a subsequent $12 million a year offer. Eventually, with Denver getting more serious about moving on with Osweiler and whomever else than many might realize, he did agree to take $15 million for 2015, with the chance to earn back that $4 million by winning a Super Bowl (he got half of it back already by winning the AFC Championship Game).
Relations between Manning and Broncos brass have been strained and complicated at times this season as well, through reports about the extent of Manning's injuries, with him turning the ball over at a league-leading rate, with Osweiler thriving for a spell in relief. That he would get a chance to come back from his plantar fascia injury during the final game of the season -- with Osweiler struggling and now injured himself -- was far from guaranteed, and that Manning would retain his job through the playoffs with mundane yet effective game management (and, most critically, avoiding turnovers) was far from a given, as well.
As it stands now, these men might be one game from one of the more fairy-tale endings the NFL has ever seen, with Elway and his best bud, Kubiak, and Manning likely in his final game all possibly sharing a stage holding football's sacred chalice in the historic 50th Super Bowl ever played. That ending might prove to be too sweet for culmination, and the Panthers will have plenty to say about the outcome, but for the Broncos to have reached this stage alone is a unique accomplishment that has shoved the fallout from last January's shake-up deep into the back-story, and might render it little more than a footnote.
