Broncos past 2 years rank among worst in club history since merger
Dec 25, 2018, 3:24 PM | Updated: Dec 26, 2018, 12:38 am
With a loss to the Oakland Raiders on Christmas Eve, the Denver Broncos made history … in not such a flattering light. The loss guarantees Denver at best a 7-9 season, meaning the Broncos will have back-to-back losing seasons for the first time since 1971-’72.
But, could these past two seasons for Denver be historically bad?
“I think we can say, with great assurance on this Christmas morning in 2018, that this is the worst Broncos NFL team or these last two teams over these last two years have been back-to-back the worst Broncos teams in Denver’s NFL history,” said 104.3 The Fan’s Sandy Clough on Tuesday.
Right now, between the 2017 season and this year, the Broncos have a .355 winning percentage.
The best-case scenario for Denver, meaning the team wins its season finale against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday, is a 7-9 mark and a .375 winning percentage over the past two seasons. The worst-case scenario is a loss to the Chargers and a 6-10 record, totally a .344 winning percentage.
In either case, the two-year stretch Denver’s put together in 2017 and 2018 would rank among the worst in franchise history since the NFL merger in 1970.
Previously, the Broncos 1970-’71 and 1971-’72 teams had combined winning percentages of .357 and .339, respectively. In 2009-’10 and 2010-’11, Denver had a combined winning percentage of .375.
“There may have been two teams back-to-back who were just as bad or worse in the American Football League,” Clough said. “And, as we outlined earlier, Vance Joseph’s record is very bad at 11-20, but (Frank) Filchock’s was worse, (Jack) Faulkner’s was worse, (Mac) Speedie’s was worse, and (Lou) Saban’s was worse.
“But, I’m guessing that those teams played a lot harder than the Broncos played last night.”
Follow digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @JohnnyHart7.
