It's no secret that Peyton Manning had the worst season of his Hall of Fame career in 2015, yet he was good enough not to lose the game for the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 50. Which begs the question, can the Broncos repeat with a mediocre quarterback?
History would suggest the answer to that question is no. You can win one with a mediocre quarterback, but you cannot win two. Eric Goodman and Les Shapiro from The Afternoon Drive posed the question to their guest Mike Pritchard, who seemed to think the Broncos could be quite successful with one.
Success yes, repeating as Super Bowl champions? I don't see how. The Broncos need to find a guy that is more than just mediocre. The only option in 2015 that appears to have the potential one would look for in a Super Bowl run would be Colin Kaepernick. He was a single pass from winning it just four years ago, but his fall from grace would make him no guaranteed option.
Looking at history, here is a short list of mediocre quarterbacks to have won Super Bowls.
- Mark Rypien
- Jim McMahon
- Jeff Hostetler
- Brad Johnson
- Trent Dilfer
All of those quarterbacks had amazing defenses the year they won, but none of those teams were able to repeat as Super Bowl champions. The repeats seem to be reserved for teams with Hall of Fame quarterbacks, so we'll just have to see if John Elway can pull off another comeback to put the Broncos into contention again in 2016.
Bonus Listen
Peyton Manning is getting himself a statue in Indianapolis, but does John Elway also deserve one for what he has done in Denver?