Hey, John Elway, how long did it take you to get over your Super Bowl losses?
“I’m not over them yet.”
It was the perfect answer on a day of doldrums at Dove Valley. Then he followed it up with, “I just add this one to it.”
Sunday stunk. It was embarrassing, and I don’t care if Peyton Manning doesn’t like that word. But I was impressed Tuesday by the old gunslinger, now the Broncos’ front-office quarterback, whose news conference emotions seemed to match those of his team’s faithful, who put the blue in blue-and-orange.
The pressure is on Elway, perhaps more than ever before, to win a world championship. A season when you reach the Super Bowl certainly isn’t a lost year, but it’s one more year lost within the Manning window, which is closing.
The Broncos’ defense stayed afloat all season despite being ravaged by injuries, but it can’t settle. It must be more like Seattle’s defense.
And everyone learned a sobering lesson. Manning can get you to the Super Bowl, but that’s a long way from winning it, especially with Seattle and San Francisco looming over in the NFC. We don’t know yet which signings Elway will fax in this offseason, but we do know that this guy — forever haunted by Super Bowl failures, even after Super Bowl redemption — was embarrassed Sunday.
“We’re going to work as hard as we did this year, if not harder,” Elway said. “And continue to do that with the mind-set that we want to be world champions. And we’re going to do everything we can to get there.”
During the news conference, Elway sounded as hoarse as head coach John Fox. But Elway decided to end it on his own terms, an old trait of his. He regained his voice, and a booming 84 seconds of confidence came shooting from his mouth. The theme was accountability and dedication. It reminded me of Patrick Roy, who sold those who had given up on Avalanche hockey before his first game as coach, because he spoke the language of resiliency. He gets you on board.
As for Elway, he takes the heat, he feeds off the feeling of being unsatisfied. Someone who’s satisfied says: “Eh, who cares about those early Super Bowl losses? We were young and didn’t have a run game, and I ended up winning two later in my career.”
I was surprised that Manning didn’t make himself available to the media one last time Tuesday. He could have verbally set the tone for the offseason. Yes, I get it. He did more news conferences last week in New York than the Broncos had first downs Sunday night. And he spoke right after losing the Super Bowl. But I’m sure fans would have wanted to hear his take two days later, after the loss marinated. Alas, the only outsiders who spoke to Manning at Dove Valley Tuesday were five fans in the snow who got his autograph before he drove off for the final time this season.
As such, I asked Elway after the news conference if he thinks it’s fair to judge a quarterback only on his postseason, because Manning just had the best regular season ever for a quarterback, at least statistically, but in some quarters is looked at as a failure because he lost the Super Bowl.
“Whether I like it or not, that’s part of it, how many Super Bowls you win, and that’s part of the judgment when it comes down to quarterbacks and it goes into the equation,” Elway said. “Fair or not, it goes into that equation. It’s hard to put it all on one guy, because when you’re going into Super Bowls, you need 53 guys, 46 guys that make you really good to be able to win it. So that’s why it’s unfair to put it on one guy.”
Well, it’s actually on one guy for now: Elway. He must retool the Broncos, he must improve the pass rush, he must bolster the secondary.
On Tuesday, there was a hot radio and Twitter debate in Denver. Was the Broncos’ season a success or a failure?
I don’t think it’s either/or. I think the objective was to make the Super Bowl, and the Broncos did that. To then disregard the accomplishment because they were slewed by Seattle isn’t necessarily fair.
But you have to win a Super Bowl with Peyton Manning as your quarterback. You have to find a way. Time is running out.
The embarrassed former quarterback knows that.
Benjamin Hochman: bhochman@denverpost.com or twitter.com/hochman
