Super Bowl or bust: Denver Broncos facing highest expectations

[Denver Native (Carol)]

In a moment of insightful levity few others in the NFL could possibly provide, Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning dug deep this week to explain the difference between simply appreciating his return to football in 2012 and souring on the final result.

"As the great Ebby Calvin 'Nuke' LaLoosh said in Bull Durham, 'I like winning. It's like, uh, you know, better than losing,' " Manning said Wednesday. "That's one of my great quotes I've used to motivate me."

Pretty much perfectly put, wouldn't you say?

Not only does Manning's reference properly explain the sense of disappointment in the wake of a double-overtime playoff loss to the Baltimore Ravens, it also properly illustrates the simple -- but complicated -- task that awaits the Broncos in 2013.

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[weazel]

Question for you all, what is your opinion?
If they dont win the Superbowl is the season a failure? yes or no

[BroncoWave]

Question for you all, what is your opinion?
If they dont win the Superbowl is the season a failure? yes or no

I won't say it's a failure, because the NFL playoffs are probably one of the flukiest things in sports. Having said that, it will be a pretty big letdown if we don't make a deeper run than last season.

[OrangeHoof]

And also facing the weakest schedule if you go by last year's record. Yet, I don't really consider the Chargers weak, nor do I consider the Patriots, Ravens, Colts, Giants and Texans as pushovers.

[broncohead]

I doubt we finish the season with the weakest sos. I think the chiefs and chargers will be better then their last years team

[rationalfan]

Question for you all, what is your opinion?
If they dont win the Superbowl is the season a failure? yes or no

the cliched answer is that every season without a lombardi trophy is a failure.

i think a more nuanced fan's perspective can appreciate how problematic that mindset is. sure, we want the broncos to win it all every year. but we all know that's not going to happen every year.

personally, i just like watching the team win more than it loses. if we, the fans, are granted another super bowl run, that's awesome. but i don't expect it every year - even with peyton manning on board for the ride. i think that's why the baltimore loss in the playoff hurt so much for so many us, we do realize how hard it is to find a "special" team capable of winning the title, and last year's team felt like it had the mettle.

as for next year, it's too early to tell with new players and new coaches providing variables we can't account for.

i hope the broncos win it all and i think the team could do it, but i think it's too early to assign those expectations now.

[Northman]

Denver hasnt been back to the SB since 98'. They signed Peyton because they wanted to make a run but even with that nothing is guaranteed. Thats how difficult it is too get back to the big game and even win it. But, to answer the question. If we are healthy and cant at least make the AFCCG than yea, i consider it a failure because of the expectations. Ill enjoy the winning ways (as usual) but the bottom line is winning championships and when you invest the kind of money into a guy like Manning with a small window than it raises the bar. Its just been far too long since Denver has even played in the big game and when your at least (in my lifetime) used to seeing the team at least in the SB at least once it becomes frustrating that we cant at least get back there. If we still had Tebow or some other young QB behind center i would be a little more forgiving but you dont go out of your way to sign one of the best QB's to ever play and not have the expectation to be in the big game.

[Superchop 7]

We are better than everyone else.........just my opinion.

[Joel]

Denver hasnt been back to the SB since 98'. They signed Peyton because they wanted to make a run but even with that nothing is guaranteed. Thats how difficult it is too get back to the big game and even win it. But, to answer the question. If we are healthy and cant at least make the AFCCG than yea, i consider it a failure because of the expectations. Ill enjoy the winning ways (as usual) but the bottom line is winning championships and when you invest the kind of money into a guy like Manning with a small window than it raises the bar. Its just been far too long since Denver has even played in the big game and when your at least (in my lifetime) used to seeing the team at least in the SB at least once it becomes frustrating that we cant at least get back there. If we still had Tebow or some other young QB behind center i would be a little more forgiving but you dont go out of your way to sign one of the best QB's to ever play and not have the expectation to be in the big game.
This is where I've been since this time last year. The only thing that's changed is everyone's a year older, including Manning and Champ. We're not paying a 37 year old QB $20 million/year, while franchising Clady and losing Doom to a failed renegotiation, to win 0 playoff games, or just a wildcard game; we did that much with far lesser QBs. It was SB or bust the moment we signed PFM.

Twenty years ago I could predict a teams performance based on last years finish (I did it four years straight, after all, the last two times being Denver when the AFC hadn't won a SB in 13 years.) Now that the cap's a fact of life I can't do that. Last year we went into the season talking about how Denver had the NFLs toughest schedule; when the dust cleared only 5 of those teams has winning records (3 of which beat us badly, with a fourth beating us in the playoffs) and we were 13-3. So talking about how easy/though this years schedule is doesn't mean much.

Ultimately it doesn't mean much even if the assessment's correct though; teams don't play for the privilege of saying they only lost to the best teams. There's a trophy for second place, but no one wants it.

[Simple Jaded]

It was worth every penny "we" paid the second they traded Tim Tebow.

It's ok to expect better from a professional organization, if they were afraid of expectations they woulda kept Tebow and watched all that cap space burn a hole in their pockets. Personally, I don't root for the Broncos for the sake of football, I'm a Broncos fan who loves football and I can't imagine the condition Broncos football would be in if the Broncos were afraid of expectations.

It was Super Bowl or bust the moment they brought John Elway back, clearly he's not ******* around with fan sentimentality.