The Law Of Karma turns on the Denver Broncos

Manning walks off the field a loser after throwing 3 INT's against the Ravens.

I’m still grinding, mourning and angry over the Broncos playoff loss today, it’s impossible not to. I know I shouldn’t but these opportunities just don’t come along every day. When making the comparisons about some of the worst losses the Broncos have ever had this one clearly is lower on the list but the pain is no less devastating.

It took the Broncos 38 years to win their first Super Bowl and it was on their 4th try. That’s why when you get into a rosy position and lose it completely knocks the wind out of you. This one hurt bad, but it doesn’t compare to 1996.

The Jacksonville loss in the 96 playoffs is the worst ever. 13-3, best AFC regular season record, home field advantage throughout and playing a team that was lucky to be there. After the loss there was talk that John Elway might retire and who would have blamed him. That season just like this one was set up for them to win a Super Bowl and again they were denied. As we learned later it would have given them 3 championships in a row had they advanced and won in 96.

The Redskins loss in the Super Bowl XXII in 1988 was the #1 most devastating until the Broncos lost to Jacksonville but now it’s #2 on my list. The Broncos had a better all around team than the Redskins that year. Not unlike the Ravens game the Corners and Safety’s helped give away that game too. Back then it was Tony Lilly instead of Champ Bailey and Rahim Moore who gave up big plays. Elway had a horrible day and the running game was a joke. The Defense let a scrub RB and a scrub QB torch them big time. Tim Smith and Doug Williams to that point in their careers had never put up that big of numbers and even following that game would never repeat the performances they had that day against the Broncos.

To be sure the losses to the Cowboys, Giants and 49ers hurt in the other SB’s but the sting wasn’t as bad because the Broncos didn’t match up well against any of those teams.

After a few days to digest this latest disaster I have to move what I consider the #3 worst loss to #4 and say that the loss Saturday surpasses it. The old #3 was the Jake the Fake meltdown in the 2006 AFC Championship Game against the Steelers. The Broncos had just come off a big win against the Brady lead Patriots (The best team in the playoffs that year) at home the week before in the AFC Divisional Playoffs. Beating the Steelers should have been an easier assignment if not for the poor play of the most important position player on the team, QB Jake Plummer.

So, today as I set here grinding I think to myself, this time we supposedly had the best QB in the game to make a Super Bowl run and we lost? Plummer’s bad game is way easier to forgive than Manning’s lousy performance because of his past resume. All be it a great regular season resume, his post season resume stinks.

I personally believe in a Higher Power greater than myself and I also believe in "The Law of Karma."

Short cuts, hired guns and throwing out a player that lead you to your second playoff win in 12 years like so much trash is definitely bad Karma. I’m not saying that Tebow could have taken this team to new heights this year with his skill set being far less than that of Manning’s, probably not. Still...Tebow deserved better, he's a winner and winners don’t always do it pretty. I’ll take winning ugly over losing pretty anytime. Check that, there is no such thing as losing pretty is there?

The other irony or should I say injustice about this epic loss Saturday is that last year when the Broncos got creamed by the Patriots nearly every media type and Broncos Fan out there blamed it on not having a good enough QB.

Today after this loss, it’s: Champ got beat twice for TD’s, Moore lost the game because he didn’t play deep enough on one play, the pass rush was non-existent, losing Moreno hurt, Kuper didn’t play well, Prater missed a kick he normally would have made, the refs made bad calls, the Broncos had 3 timeouts and 31 seconds on the clock in the 4th Q and didn’t try to score, Fox and McCoy called to conservative of a game etc.

Then… As an afterthought: "Oh yeah, Peyton Manning didn’t play well either." Instead of being on the top of the list he’s on the bottom because after all this was a “Team Loss.” I don’t disagree with the “team loss” mantra but Manning should be shouldering way more blame than he has to this point. HE not Mike McCoy was calling the majority of the plays on the field. 3 INT’s, 2 resulting in scores and that God awful throw in over time. The stupid throw in OT made all the throws Tebow has made in his career look pretty damn good. Many didn’t really say it was a team loss after the Broncos got slaughtered by the Patriots last year did they? Oh no, it was that lousy Tim Tebow's fault, if we’d of had a QB like Manning or any other QB for that matter the outcome would have been different right?

The bottom line is Manning should have been the ONE person on the team that made the plays necessary for the Broncos to win a close game, period, end of story. I can’t see it any other way. The Law of Karma as it turns out works both ways, hopefully the Broncos can recover and get the good Karma back next season. It's going to be a very long off season but as always I'll be hopeful that the Broncos can climb the ladder and make a run to the big show. That is all.

A "Successful" Broncos Season is what?

First, you have to separate what is defined as a great season and a “successful” season. In 1996 the Broncos were a 13-3 team, had home field throughout and then proceeded to lose to the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars. After this one was over I didn’t call that Broncos season a success at all. After this one no hard core Broncos fan and no one in the media called that season a success either. It was such an epic failure that there was talk after the game that the great Elway might retire.

I consider that loss the worst defeat in Broncos team history, #2 was the Washington Redskins Super Bowl loss, then at #3 the epic fail by Jake Plummer when he blew his wad in 2006. The SB losses to the NY Giants and San Francisco 49ers were devastating but both teams were better than the Broncos so it wasn’t a big shock when we came up on the short end.

I remember the Jaguars game like it was yesterday. The day before the game I bought a brand new 32 inch Hitachi Color TV. I invited about 10 friends over to watch the game. I was absolutely convinced the Broncos were going to win the whole thing that year because they had the best regular season record in the AFC and I believed at the time no one could stop them. That one hurt, hurt bad, it crushed Elway and the City of Denver. Did they win a lot of games that year and put up great stats? Oh yeah but to call that season successful is bad joke.

The same would be true of the Redskins loss in the Super Bowl. The Broncos got a second chance after losing to what was a far better team than them in the Giants the year before. The Broncos were the best team in the NFL during the regular season in 1988. The Redskins were lucky to be there.

They let the Bucs QB Doug Williams and RB Tim Smith have career days when both wouldn’t even be backups on most teams. For whatever reason a pretty good Broncos D up until that point unraveled, especially in the secondary that didn't help matters either. Tony Lilly, who can forget Lilly getting beat like a school boy on every pass play.

Then of course there’s 2006, a team as it turned out that was one player, a QB, away from a SB.

After the last Super Bowl win in 1998 Mike Shanahan would go onto have what some would call “successful” seasons. None of them translated into a Super Bowl win however and the memory of the last one has turned into a 13 year wait for another.

The game is played to win championships period. If the Broncos blow a chance here with home field advantage with Peyton Manning at the top of his game and the D playing as well as they have in years I wouldn’t call it a successful season.

THEY MUST WIN THE SUPER BOWL! GO BRONCOS!!

Ok I give up, I can't defend Jay Cutler

Cutler mopes and pouts on the sidelines.

Since Elway’s retirement the Broncos have been in a futile search for that QB who could lead them back to the promise land. So far it’s been an 11 year curse that has damned the team and the fans to mediocrity and worse. The Broncos have had one playoff game win since he retired, ONE. There are various reasons for it but lets’ just examine the QB position alone for the moment. Would Cutler have broken the curse if he’d of stayed with the Broncos? I’ll address this question in a minute but first…

You never blame losses totally on the QB because it is a team game but having said that a great one can make the difference when the chips are on the line in any game. Defense wins championships but even a good defensive unit can a make a few bad plays in a big game. It then is up to the offensive to score and the focus turns to the talent of the most important leader on the field, the Quarterback.

I researched all the starting QB’s from every Super Bowl and this is what I found out factually but already knew. There have been exceptions don’t get me wrong were a below average QB has been at the helm of Super Bowl winning teams but very few, only four in fact. Four times in 44 games not very good odds is it?

The 4 worst QB’s to ever win a Super Bowl

The single most glaring example is Trent Dilfer of the Ravens team from SB XXV. I think he stands alone as the single worst QB to ever win a Super Bowl period. He had a good college career at Fresno State but was a total bum in the NFL. It cracks me up now that today he’s an analyst on ESPN passing judgment on QB’s when he couldn’t carry most of their jocks including even the beguiled Cutler.

I’d have to put Jeff Hostetler on the list from the Giants team that won SB XLV over the Jim Kelly lead Bills team. Hostetler was far from being a consistent pro and was only put in the starting spot because Phil Simms had been injured. If not for a gimme FG that Scott Norwood missed Hostetler doesn’t even enter into this conversation.

Personally the most painful example of a lousy QB winning a SB was Doug Williams of the Redskins in SB XXII against my beloved Broncos. I remember the 1987 NFL season just like it was yesterday. The Broncos had a great season and I was thrilled that they drew the Skins because in every aspect of the game coming in they were better. Williams was a lucky bum, he was far from a great QB and that season it was the D that helped the Skins win it, not his superior talent. That and one of the all-time worst defensive collapses in Broncos team history.

Next up for some critics would be Brad Johnson of the Buccaneers in SB  XXXVII. Yeah, maybe at that point in his career but before the Super Bowl and early in his career he was one of the best in the game when he played for the Vikings. If not for the multiple injuries he suffered from he was talented enough to be on the list of great QB’s in his era.  He was just one of those unlucky players who spent more time in the training room than on the field. So I’m not sure he truly belongs in this group but for the sake of argument I know others will so I will include him here.

The 4 worst QB’s to ever lose a Super Bowl

Now that we’ve established who the worst QB’s lucky enough to have a team carry them to Super Bowl wins let’s look at some of losing QB’s in the SB’s. Could these teams have pulled out a win with a better QB? Debatable yes, but in my opinion they probably do win instead of lose.

David Woodley of the Dolphins who lost to the Redskins in SB XVII

Neil O'Donnell of the Steelers who lost to the Cowboys in SB XXX.

Matt Hasselbeck of the Seahawks who lost to the Steelers in SB XL.

Rex Grossman of the Bears who lost to the Colts in SB XLI. 

Simple put Woodley wouldn’t have started on a bad Division II College team.

O’Donnell could throw but was a total slug if he had no protection in the pocket.

Some would argue that Hasselbeck doesn’t belong on that list but he does. He’s one of those QB’s that gives then takes away. One week he’ll throw 5 TD’s looking like an All-Pro and the next week throw 5 Interceptions and play like a confused Rookie. Sorry Seahawks Fans, it was his crappy play in the 2nd half of that Super Bowl game that lost it for the Seahawks not the bad ref calls.

Why Grossman was even drafted by an NFL team is still a mystery to me.

By the numbers there have been 44 SB’s played, of those in only 4 cases did a team with a mediocre or a below average QB win. In 4 other SB’s it could be easily argued that if the teams had an above average QB’s they win but who knows for sure.

Now to the bottom line, hard to admit since I’m never wrong

I totally bought the idea that Jay Cutler was in line to be one of the great NFL QB’s. I honestly believed that of all the QB’s that had been on the Broncos post Elway he gave them the best chance to win a Super Bowl.  I’ve defended him throughout, in almost every case I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. Why? Because he does have a better than average physical skill set and he’s also a very cerebral smart player.

It’s hard for me to admit a mistake but after the Packers game on Sunday Cutler has been permanently removed from my list as a “potential” great QB. Everybody was right I was wrong.

I read today were Cutler has a Grade II MCL tear in his knee, something that can take up to four weeks to properly heel. Hmmm?

Some people may not agree I still think he should have come back in the game.  It seems very clear to anybody watching that Cutler quit on the Bears, knee injury or not. I watched the replays over and over and just can’t see how the injury to his knee was so bad that he was unable to return. The proof was there for all to see when he stood on the sidelines and watched the game. If his knee hurt as bad as he claimed why the hell was he standing on it and even riding a stationary bike? If he was done for the day he should been in the locker room. Cutler is no rah, rah type personality; his whole body posture and that whining baby look did nothing to inspire the Bears that he was really hurt bad enough not to play. He had no business being on the sidelines with the true warriors who were still trying to salvage the game with that attitude.

Cutler does his best impression of a pathetic crybaby quitter on the sidelines of the NFC Championship game.

The other problem I had with Cutler was he couldn’t even say which play it was he got hurt on. Really? If I had a severe knee injury one bad enough to take me out of a game I’d sure as hell know what play it happened on. I believe he got roughed up a little in first half of a very cold game in which he didn’t play well and used the knee to quit on the Bears. There I said it.

Did you think John Elway or Brett Favre would have set on the sidelines under the same set of circumstances? How about old warriors like Joe Namath or even old Broncos QB Craig Morton do you think they’d of pulled themselves out? Not a chance, not a chance in hell I should say.

I was willing to defend almost every red flag that Cutlers career had generated up into this game but I will never ever defend a quitter. Cutler needed to be out on the field and play in the game and show some respect for the fans and his other teammates who were just 30 minutes away from a Super Bowl. I'd bet the bank that he'd give anything to go back and finish out the second half of the game. To late Cutler, my guess your Super Bowl opportunity is done and over with forever and rightfully so.

I “quit” on Cutler, thank God he didn’t stay in Denver. For all the criticism and doubters out there about Tim Tebow I bet even he would have toughed it out. I’ll take a rough around the edges warrior over a talent quitter every time.

Side note: Packers beat the Steelers in the Super Bowl. That is all….

Late add on watch this video below. Point made in bold colors, thanks Paul.

Tebow's 20 Yard TD Run on a Broken Leg