The 1981 Broncos are the only team since the merger to go 8-0 at home and miss the playoffs.
On the last day of the season, they had a chance to clinch the AFC West, but couldn't at Chicago.
I don't know how the tiebreakers happened with the Jets, but had they won the West, SD misses the playoffs.
There would have been no Epic in Miami.
Conversely, how would a Dolphins/Broncos playoff game have gone down in that Orange Bowl humidity and would either of them have fared any better in the Freezer Bowl (assuming Buffalo doesn't win that game)
1981 Broncos- What if?
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Mark L. Ford
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Re: 1981 Broncos- What if?
I guess this presupposes that the Broncos would have beaten Chicago and finished 11-5, and the Chargers and Bills would have finished 10-6 anyway. The Jets would have made it anyway, because they finished 10-5-1 that year. As you note, San Diego would have missed the playoffs under that scenario, and there wouldn't have been that 41-38 thriller in Miami. In a tiebreaker between the 10-6 Chargers and Bills, the Bills would have gotten the spot because of their one point win in San Diego late in the season.CSKreager wrote:The 1981 Broncos are the only team since the merger to go 8-0 at home and miss the playoffs.
On the last day of the season, they had a chance to clinch the AFC West, but couldn't at Chicago.
I don't know how the tiebreakers happened with the Jets, but had they won the West, SD misses the playoffs.
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ChrisBabcock
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Re: 1981 Broncos- What if?
Denver definitely wouldn't have fared as well @ Miami. Which would have sent Miami to Cincinnati for the AFCC freezer bowl, with probably a similar result as the actual game vs. SD.
Re: 1981 Broncos- What if?
If Doug Williams didn't throw that ill-advised pass late in the game to Jimmie Giles, the Bucs probably knock off the Chargers in Week 15, and Denver would have wrapped up the AFC West later that day with a win over Seattle, making the Chicago game moot.
As for the 1981 Broncos, though, I think that they were better than the 1977 Broncos. They had more depth on defense, and their offense had a little more in it than their 1977 counterparts. Steve Watson emerged at WR, they still had Moses, Odoms, and Upchurch, and they had a better O-line.
When you think of a possible matchup with Miami, you have to remember that the Charger defense was wretched, which allowed the Dolphins to get back into that game. Denver's D could have done a lot better in that heat with the depth that they had. If they limit the offensive mistakes that they seemed to make on the road that year, they had a good shot to win because that wasn't a great Dolphin team. They probably weren't the most talented team in their division. Buffalo was, but they regressed a bit that year.
As for the 1981 Broncos, though, I think that they were better than the 1977 Broncos. They had more depth on defense, and their offense had a little more in it than their 1977 counterparts. Steve Watson emerged at WR, they still had Moses, Odoms, and Upchurch, and they had a better O-line.
When you think of a possible matchup with Miami, you have to remember that the Charger defense was wretched, which allowed the Dolphins to get back into that game. Denver's D could have done a lot better in that heat with the depth that they had. If they limit the offensive mistakes that they seemed to make on the road that year, they had a good shot to win because that wasn't a great Dolphin team. They probably weren't the most talented team in their division. Buffalo was, but they regressed a bit that year.