List of Denver Broncos seasons
The Denver Broncos are an American football franchise based in Denver, Colorado. Founded by Bob Howsam on August 14, 1959, the team was one of the founder members of the American Football League (AFL), which began in 1960, before merging with the National Football League (NFL) ahead of the 1970 season,[1] when the Broncos became part of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division; they have been in the same division ever since. As of the end of the 2020 season, Denver has completed 61 seasons (playing in over 970 combined regular season and playoff games), and has appeared in eight Super Bowls; although they lost in each of their first four Super Bowl appearances, they have since won three of them, most recently Super Bowl 50.
The franchise has experienced three major periods of success. The first was from
The Broncos have been AFC West champions 15 times, winning the division for five consecutive seasons from 2011 to 2015, and have also earned wild card berths into the playoffs seven times, for a total of 22 playoff appearances. They have been conference champions eight times (tied with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and two behind the New England Patriots who have the most AFC championships) and Super Bowl champions thrice.[3]
Seasons
Super Bowl Champions (1970–present) | Conference Champions | Division Champions | Wild Card berth |
Season | Team | League
|
Conference | Division | Regular season
|
Post-season results | Awards | Head coaches | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Finish | W | L | T | ||||||||
1960 | 1960 | AFL | West | 4th | 4 | 9 | 1 | Frank Filchock | |||
1961 | 1961 | AFL | West | 3rd | 3 | 11 | 0 | ||||
1962 | 1962 | AFL | West | 2nd | 7 | 7 | 0 | Jack Faulkner (COY) | Jack Faulkner | ||
1963 | 1963 | AFL | West | 4th | 2 | 11 | 1 | ||||
1964 | 1964 | AFL | West | 4th | 2 | 11 | 1 | Jack Faulkner (0–4) Mac Speedie (2–7–1) | |||
1965 | 1965 | AFL | West | 4th | 4 | 10 | 0 | Mac Speedie | |||
1966 | 1966 | AFL | West | 4th | 4 | 10 | 0 | Mac Speedie (0–2) Ray Malavasi (4–8) | |||
1967 | 1967 | AFL | West | 4th | 3 | 11 | 0 | Lou Saban | |||
1968 | 1968 | AFL | West | 4th | 5 | 9 | 0 | ||||
1969 | 1969 | AFL | West | 4th | 5 | 8 | 1 | ||||
1970[a] | 1970 | NFL | AFC | West
|
4th | 5 | 8 | 1 | |||
1971 | 1971 | NFL | AFC | West | 4th | 4 | 9 | 1 | Lou Saban (2–6–1) Jerry Smith (2–3) | ||
1972 | 1972 | NFL | AFC | West | 3rd | 5 | 9 | 0 | John Ralston | ||
1973 | 1973 | NFL | AFC | West | 3rd | 7 | 5 | 2 | |||
1974 | 1974 | NFL | AFC | West | 2nd | 7 | 6 | 1 | |||
1975 | 1975 | NFL | AFC | West | 2nd | 6 | 8 | 0 | |||
1976 | 1976 | NFL | AFC | West | 2nd | 9 | 5 | 0 | |||
1977 | 1977 | NFL | AFC | West | 1st | 12 | 2 | 0 | Won Divisional Playoffs (Steelers) 34–21 Won AFC Championship (Raiders) 20–17 Lost Super Bowl XII (vs. Cowboys) 10–27 |
CBPOY )
|
Red Miller |
1978 | 1978 | NFL | AFC | West | 1st | 10 | 6 | 0 | Lost Divisional Playoffs (at Steelers) 10–33 | DPOY )
| |
1979 | 1979 | NFL | AFC | West | 2nd | 10 | 6 | 0 | Lost Wild Card Playoffs (at Oilers) 7–13 | ||
1980 | 1980 | NFL | AFC | West | 4th | 8 | 8 | 0 | |||
1981 | 1981 | NFL | AFC | West | 2nd | 10 | 6 | 0 | Dan Reeves | ||
1982[b] | 1982 | NFL | AFC | 12th | 2 | 7 | 0 | ||||
1983 | 1983 | NFL | AFC | West | 3rd | 9 | 7 | 0 | Lost Wild Card Playoffs (at Seahawks) 7–31 | ||
1984 | 1984 | NFL | AFC | West | 1st | 13 | 3 | 0 | Lost Divisional Playoffs (Steelers) 17–24 | ||
1985 | 1985 | NFL | AFC | West | 2nd | 11 | 5 | 0 | |||
1986 | 1986 | NFL | AFC | West | 1st | 11 | 5 | 0 | Won Divisional Playoffs (Patriots) 22–17 Won AFC Championship (at Browns) 23–20 (OT)[c] Lost Super Bowl XXI (vs. Giants) 20–39 |
||
1987[d] | 1987 | NFL | AFC | West | 1st | 10 | 4 | 1 | Won Divisional Playoffs (Oilers) 34–10 Won AFC Championship (Browns) 38–33[e] Lost Super Bowl XXII (vs. Redskins) 10–42 |
MVP )
| |
1988 | 1988 | NFL | AFC | West | 2nd | 8 | 8 | 0 | |||
1989 | 1989 | NFL | AFC | West | 1st | 11 | 5 | 0 | Won Divisional Playoffs (Steelers) 24–23 Won AFC Championship (Browns) 37–21 Lost Super Bowl XXIV (vs. 49ers) 10–55 |
||
1990 | 1990 | NFL | AFC | West | 5th | 5 | 11 | 0 | |||
1991 | 1991 | NFL | AFC | West | 1st | 12 | 4 | 0 | Won Divisional Playoffs (Oilers) 26–24 Lost AFC Championship (at Bills) 7–10 |
DROY )
| |
1992 | 1992 | NFL | AFC | West | 3rd | 8 | 8 | 0 | |||
1993 | 1993 | NFL | AFC | West | 3rd | 9 | 7 | 0 | Lost Wild Card Playoffs (at Raiders) 24–42 | Wade Phillips | |
1994 | 1994 | NFL | AFC | West | 4th | 7 | 9 | 0 | |||
1995 | 1995 | NFL | AFC | West | 3rd | 8 | 8 | 0 | Mike Shanahan | ||
1996 | 1996 | NFL | AFC | West | 1st | 13 | 3 | 0 | Lost Divisional Playoffs (Jaguars) 27–30 | OPOY )
| |
1997 | 1997 | NFL | AFC | West | 2nd | 12 | 4 | 0 | Won Wild Card Playoffs (Jaguars) 42–17 Won Divisional Playoffs (at Chiefs) 14–10 Won AFC Championship (at Steelers) 24–21 Won Super Bowl XXXII (1) (vs. Packers) 31–24 |
Terrell Davis (SB MVP) | |
1998 | 1998 | NFL | AFC | West | 1st | 14 | 2 | 0 | Won Divisional Playoffs (Dolphins) 38–3 Won AFC Championship (Jets) 23–10 Won Super Bowl XXXIII (2) (vs. Falcons) 34–19 |
SB MVP )
| |
1999 | 1999 | NFL | AFC | West | 5th | 6 | 10 | 0 | |||
2000 | 2000 | NFL | AFC | West | 2nd | 11 | 5 | 0 | Lost Wild Card Playoffs (at Ravens) 3–21 | OROY )
| |
2001 | 2001 | NFL | AFC | West | 3rd | 8 | 8 | 0 | |||
2002 | 2002 | NFL | AFC | West | 2nd | 9 | 7 | 0 | OROY )
| ||
2003 | 2003 | NFL | AFC | West | 2nd | 10 | 6 | 0 | Lost Wild Card Playoffs (at Colts) 10–41 | ||
2004 | 2004 | NFL | AFC | West | 2nd | 10 | 6 | 0 | Lost Wild Card Playoffs (at Colts) 24–49 | ||
2005 | 2005 | NFL | AFC | West | 1st | 13 | 3 | 0 | Won Divisional Playoffs (Patriots) 27–13 Lost AFC Championship (Steelers) 17–34 |
||
2006 | 2006 | NFL | AFC | West | 3rd | 9 | 7 | 0 | |||
2007 | 2007 | NFL | AFC | West | 2nd | 7 | 9 | 0 | |||
2008 | 2008 | NFL | AFC | West | 2nd | 8 | 8 | 0 | |||
2009 | 2009 | NFL | AFC | West | 2nd | 8 | 8 | 0 | Josh McDaniels | ||
2010 | 2010 | NFL | AFC | West | 4th | 4 | 12 | 0 | Josh McDaniels (3–9) Eric Studesville (1–3) | ||
2011 | 2011 | NFL | AFC | West | 1st | 8 | 8 | 0 | Won Wild Card Playoffs (Steelers) 29–23 (OT) Lost Divisional Playoffs (at Patriots) 10–45 |
DROY )
|
John Fox |
2012 | 2012 | NFL | AFC | West | 1st | 13 | 3 | 0 | Lost Divisional Playoffs (Ravens) 35–38 (2 OT) | Peyton Manning (CBPOY) | |
2013 | 2013 | NFL | AFC | West | 1st | 13 | 3 | 0 | Won Divisional Playoffs (Chargers) 24–17 Won AFC Championship (Patriots) 26–16 Lost Super Bowl XLVIII (vs. Seahawks) 8–43 |
OPOY )
| |
2014 | 2014 | NFL | AFC | West | 1st | 12 | 4 | 0 | Lost Divisional Playoffs (Colts) 13–24 | ||
2015 | 2015 | NFL | AFC | West | 1st | 12 | 4 | 0 | Won Divisional Playoffs (Steelers) 23–16 Won AFC Championship (Patriots) 20–18 Won Super Bowl 50 (3) (vs. Panthers) 24–10 |
Von Miller (SB MVP) | Gary Kubiak |
2016 | 2016 | NFL | AFC | West | 3rd | 9 | 7 | 0 | |||
2017 | 2017 | NFL | AFC | West | 4th | 5 | 11 | 0 | Vance Joseph | ||
2018 | 2018 | NFL | AFC | West | 3rd | 6 | 10 | 0 | |||
2019 | 2019 | NFL | AFC | West | 2nd | 7 | 9 | 0 | Vic Fangio | ||
2020 | 2020 | NFL | AFC | West | 4th | 5 | 11 | 0 | |||
2021 | 2021 | NFL | AFC | West | 4th | 7 | 10 | 0 | |||
2022 | 2022 | NFL | AFC | West | 4th | 5 | 12 | 0 | Nathaniel Hackett (4–11) Jerry Rosburg (1–1) | ||
2023 | 2023 | NFL | AFC | West | 3rd | 8 | 9 | 0 | Sean Payton | ||
Total records (regular season/playoffs/combined) | 508 | 465 | 10 | (1960–2023, includes only regular season) | |||||||
23 | 19 | — | (1960–2023, includes only playoffs) | ||||||||
531 | 484 | 10 | (1960–2023, regular season and playoffs; 3 NFL Championships) |
Footnotes
- AFL-NFL merger, the league was broken into two conferences, with the AFL teams moving into the American Football Conference.[4]
- ^ Due to the 1982 strike-shortened season, the league was broken up into two conferences instead of its normal divisional alignment.[5]
- ^ This game included The Drive, where quarterback John Elway led the Broncos on a 98-yard drive to tie the game with less than a minute left.[6]
- ^ The strike of 1987 reduced the regular season schedule from sixteen to fifteen games.[5]
- ^ This game included The Fumble, where Cleveland Browns' running back Earnest Byner fumbled at the Broncos' 3-yard line, enabling the Broncos to win the game.
References
General
- "NFL – History – Yearly Standings (click the drop down box for yearly standings)". NFL. Retrieved January 15, 2008.
- "Denver Broncos – History". CBS. Retrieved August 18, 2008.
- "Denver Broncos Franchise Encyclopedia". pro-football-reference.com. Retrieved April 28, 2008.
- "Denver Broncos History". Football @ JT-SW.com. John Troan. Retrieved April 21, 2012.
Specific
- ^ "Denver Broncos". Pro Football Hall of Fame. Retrieved July 9, 2008.
- ^ "John Elway". Pro Football Hall of Fame. Retrieved July 17, 2008.
- ^ a b "Denver Broncos Franchise Encyclopedia". Sports Reference. Retrieved April 28, 2008.
- ^ "The AFL: A Football Legacy". Sports Illustrated. January 22, 2001. Retrieved July 10, 2008.
- ^ a b "HISTORY 1981–1990". NFL.com. Retrieved July 10, 2008.
- ^ "Pro Football Hall of Fame – The Drive". Pro Football Hall of Fame. Retrieved June 13, 2008.