How will the Broncos handle loftier-than-ever expectations?
“The great Super Bowl teams of the late 1990’s did not begin training camp expecting to win it all. They hoped they could, of course. They believed they were capable. But they didn’t have nearly the weight on their shoulder pads that this years squad does.”
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Super Bowl or Bust. That’s the mantra for the 2013 Denver Broncos.
The expectations of the fans and of the team are higher than they have ever been.
The great Super Bowl teams of the late 1990’s did not begin training camp expecting to win it all. They hoped they could, of course. They believed they were capable. But they didn’t have nearly the weight on their shoulder pads that this years squad does.
Odds makers favor Denver over any other team to walk away with a Lombardi Trophy this season. The Broncos (11 to 2) are slight favorites ahead of even the San Francisco 49ers (6 to 1). That’s because the Broncos are stacked. They’ve got Peyton Manning, an unbelievable set of receivers, young talent at running back, a top offensive line and one of the most devastating defenses in the AFC. The Broncos are built to win and win now – and that’s the burden the team carries into training camp.
The management of high hopes is a significant challenge. Certainly it is something that John Elway, John Fox and company have addressed with their team. Just how they have addressed it is something those of us on the outside will never know. But, with every member of the team aware of the fact that anything short of a championship would be a disappointing outcome, something must have been said in order to prevent the pressure from being paralyzing.
The Broncos are not the Nuggets. Folks won’t be satisfied with a division title or a “deep run” in the playoffs. Nobody will pat the Broncos on the heads for winning a lot of regular season games or for “building on last season’s success”. They’ve got to bring home the big prize not to be seen as failures. That’s a heck of a thing to confront while preparing for a long season and it will be a test to the Broncos’ leadership.
It’s important that the Broncos stay loose and take the season as it comes. “One game at a time”, as they say. But that’s difficult to do when the only rung on the ladder that matters is the highest one. The climb to the top begins now. The Broncos are bound to slip a time or two along the way, but they’re expected not to fall. This is a season in which the Broncos can’t really win becuase winning is what they’re supposed to do.
