The Fate Of The Broncos--How Will It Be Measured?

Matt Prater lines up for the game winning field goal against the Dallas Cowboys. (credit: CBS)

DENVER (CBS4) – After coming on so strong early in the season, if quarterback Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos don’t go all the way to Super Bowl XLVIII and win, will this season be considered a failure?

After five games and five big wins, the Broncos are on pace to become the first team in the history of the NFL to exceed 600, maybe even 700 points, in a season. It is the most remarkable five-game stretch in the history of professional football.

The numbers don’t lie. What Manning has done in his first five games — his assault on the record books — is simply unprecedented. He’s 37 — with four neck surgeries — and he’s never played better.

Any season that doesn’t end in a Super Bowl win is always disappointing for NFL teams and for fans, but former running back Reggie Rivers says things are different for these Broncos. This is the team that lost in their first four Super Bowl appearances (1977, 1986, 1987 and 1989), after all.

“When I arrived here in 1991 people were talking about that, saying ‘I would rather not be in the Super Bowl then go to the Super Bowl and lose it,’ ” said former running back Reggie Rivers.

Rivers said Broncos fans should be hopeful that history will repeat itself and events play out like they did after the team’s 1996 season.

“What happened last season and how they are playing this season just mirrored so much of what happened in 1996, which was my last career game — against Jacksonville,” Rivers said. “And then they came back and won two Super Bowls. I think the city is ready for the repeat of that and if that doesn’t happen then it’s like they have been cheated out of history — like this is what’s supposed to happen.”

CBS4 sports anchor Tom Helmer echoed those sentiments this week as he watched the team prepare at their Dove Valley headquarters for their next opponent — the Jacksonville Jaguars.

“The goal of every NFL team is to win it all,” he said. “The Broncos were straddled with high expectations to start the season, which will fuel disappointment if the team doesn’t bring home the Lombardi Trophy.”

CBS4 sports anchor Vic Lombardi disagreed, saying the season could still be considered a success even if the Broncos don’t win it all, but “they must at least get to the Super Bowl.”

“Getting there will appease most fans,” Lombardi said.

Former Broncos center and newly inducted Ring of Famer Tom Nalen agreed that the sight of the Broncos suiting up at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey would be satisfying to some degree.

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