Bottom line, Elway was most competitive QB

The NFL’s centennial season kicks off tonight with two of its original teams as the Chicago Bears host the Green Bay Packers to begin the season. The NFL evolved into the most viewed sport, with Super Bowl XLIX catching the eyes of over 114 million viewers.

Over the last century, the NFL has given us many legendary players like Joe Montana, Tom Brady and so forth, but today I want to talk about a player who in my opinion, had the greatest desire to win of all time. Let me tell you about John Elway, a quarterback for the Denver Broncos.

Elway does not have the stats of Dan Marino or the accolades of Montana, but he also never had talented coaches or players surrounding him for the first 12 years of his career. Nonetheless, Mr. Elway was able to carry the mediocre Broncos to four Super Bowls, only to be blown out by the opposition on the game’s biggest stage. This led to many critics claiming he couldn’t win games when they mattered the most.

As a major fan of the Denver Broncos and their history, I am credible to tell you that these critics’ claims are a bunch of bologna. When he retired in 1999, Elway led the NFL in 4th quarter comeback victories. To me, this is the only stat that measures a quarterback’s competitive drive. His most impressive comeback came in the final regular season game of his rookie season against the Baltimore Colts.

Trailing 19-0 in the 4th quarter, Elway threw for three touchdowns in 10 minutes, leading the Broncos to victory and to the playoffs. Elway was a true one-man-show on the field. Denver had a pretty bad team when trading for Elway, and with a coach like Dan Reeves, they never surrounded their quarterback with any talent until the mid-90s. While Montana had Jerry Rice, arguable the greatest wide receiver to play and Marino had Mark Clayton, Elway dealt with receivers like Vance Johnson.

We see many great quarterbacks who blame the team around them for their lack of success, leading them to retire early. Instead of complaining, Elway made an unselfish decision to make his team better in the 90s, which was  to restructure his contract. After not winning a ring after a decade, Elway sacrificed a portion of his salary to bring talent to Denver. 

By the mid-90s, Denver became an elite football team with guys like Terrell Davis, Shannon Sharpe and Rod Smith on offense (two 6th round picks and one undrafted free agent). Then in 1997, the Broncos finally won their first Super Bowl against the Green Bay Packers. The most notable play of Elway’s career came in the game when a 37-year-old Elway gave up his body for a first down. Attempting to dive for the first down, Elway’s body flew sideways in mid-air, leading to the legendary “Helicopter”.

By capping off his career with another Super Bowl win, Elway showed the NFL what it means to keep a burning desire to win no matter how much adversity a player goes through. During his career, Elway had at least two surgeries to repair his torn ACL (which never truly healed), hamstring issues and even ruptured his biceps on his throwing arm. These injuries alone would cause a legend like Andrew Luck to retire early, but Elway had one thing on his mind through it all: Win a Super Bowl no matter what it takes. 

Now, Elway is the active general manager of the Broncos and since his return in 2011, Denver  had five division titles, two Super Bowl appearances with one win in 2016.

Denver missed the playoffs in three consecutive seasons, putting Elway on the hot seat. I’m not worried though. If Elway can turn a forgotten franchise of the 70s into a household name, he can turn the current Broncos around too.