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In the wake of the firing of George Karl by the Denver Nuggets and the years of ineptness from the Colorado Rockies, it dawned on me that the Denver Broncos are often taken for granted. No, the Broncos don’t win every single year and they have not won a championship since 1998, but the goal is always the same, win the Super Bowl.
While the Nuggets are firing a coach who just won the coach of the year, the Broncos are bringing back Alex Gibbs because they think he can help them win. The Rockies are shooting to be .500 and John Elway is bringing in free agent after free agent because 13-3 and losing in the divisional round is not good enough.
The Nuggets’ goal was to finally advance out of the first-round, but the Broncos’ goal is to win the Super Bowl and they are the one’s saying it. The Broncos don’t care about division titles, playoff appearances or playoff wins; they care about Vince Lombardi trophies and it starts from the top.
After the Broncos lost to the New England Patriots in the playoffs two years ago, owner Pat Bowlen called the 2011 season a “good one but not a great one”. Bowlen went on to say, “I want great.”
Has Bowlen made mistakes? Of course he has, but he doesn’t compound the mistake by being stubborn. Bowlen fired Josh McDaniels before he could even finish his second season because it was an obvious mistake. There’s no question it was a black eye for Bowlen and the Broncos, but they quickly moved on to fix the problem.
Bowlen does something else that Nuggets owner, Josh Kroenke had better figure out real quick and that’s the fact that smart owners get out of the way. Following the McDaniels mess, Bowlen hired Elway to run the football operations and then got out of the way. The goal from Bowlen is clearly to win championships, but he allows the people to work.
The Broncos don’t make every right move, but every move they make is made with the idea of winning a championship. Every dollar Bowlen makes from football related income goes back into the Broncos in an effort to make the team better.
So while you are debating the direction of the Nuggets or discussing the Rockies’ goal to be mediocre, just remember there’s one team in Colorado that is doing the right way. The Broncos don’t accomplish their goal every year or even all that often, but that’s only because their goal is to be a champion.
The hierarchy of professional sports in Colorado is real simple; it’s the Broncos and everyone else.
Follow me on Twitter @Jemorrone7
