1986 Denver Broncos season

1986 Denver Broncos season
Owner	Pat Bowlen
General manager	John Beake
Head coach	Dan Reeves
Home field	Mile High Stadium
Results
Record	11–5
Division place	1st AFC West
Playoff finish	Won Divisional Playoffs (vs. Patriots) 22–17 Won AFC Championship (at Browns) 23–20 (OT) Lost Super Bowl XXI (vs. Giants) 20–39
Pro Bowlers	QB John Elway RB Sammy Winder G Keith Bishop DE Rulon Jones LB Karl Mecklenburg S Dennis Smith
← 1985 Broncos seasons 1987 →

The 1986 Denver Broncos season was the franchise's 27th year in professional football and its 17th with the National Football League (NFL). They finished the regular season with a record of 11–5, returned to the playoffs after a one-year absence. In the Divisional Playoffs the Broncos defeated the New England Patriots 22–17. Then won the AFC Championship over the Cleveland Browns 23–20. At Super Bowl XXI the New York Giants dominated the second half of the game and won 39–20. This would be the first of back to back Super Bowl losses for the team.

1986 Denver Broncos draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
4	104	Jim Juriga	Guard	Illinois
5	134	Tony Colorito	Nose tackle	USC
6	151	Orson Mobley	Tight end	Salem
6	161	Mark Jackson	Wide receiver	Purdue
7	188	Raymond Phillips	Linebacker	North Carolina State
8	217	Bruce Klosterman	Linebacker	South Dakota State
9	244	Joe Thomas	Wide receiver	Mississippi Valley State
10	271	Victor Hall	Tight end	Jackson State
11	301	Thomas Dendy	Running back	South Carolina
Made roster    †   Pro Football Hall of Fame    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

1986 Denver Broncos staff

Front office President and Chief Executive Officer – Pat Bowlen General manager – John Beake Director of player personnel – Reed Johnson Head coaches Vice president/head Coach – Dan Reeves Assistant head coach/defense – Joe Collier Special Assistant – Marvin Bass Offensive coaches Offensive coordinator/Quarterbacks – Mike Shanahan Running Backs – Nick Nicolau Wide Receivers – Kay Dalton Offensive Line – Alex Gibbs

Defensive coaches Defensive Line – Stan Jones Linebackers – Myrel Moore Defensive Backs – Charlie West Special teams coaches Special Teams/Tight Ends – Chan Gailey Strength and conditioning Strength/Conditioning – Al Miller

1986 Denver Broncos roster

Quarterbacks (QB)  7 John Elway  8 Gary Kubiak Running backs (RB) 35 Ken Bell KR 24 Tony Boddie 33 Gene Lang FB 30 Steve Sewell 47 Gerald Willhite 23 Sammy Winder Wide receivers (WR) 80 Mark Jackson 82 Vance Johnson 84 Clint Sampson 81 Steve Watson Tight ends (TE) 85 Joey Hackett 88 Clarence Kay 87 Bobby Micho 89 Orson Mobley

Offensive linemen (OL) 54 Keith Bishop G 64 Billy Bryan C 63 Mark Cooper G 62 Mike Freeman G/C 78 Winford Hood G 60 Paul Howard G 76 Ken Lanier T 74 Dan Remsberg T 70 Dave Studdard T Defensive linemen (DL) 68 Rubin Carter NT 69 Tony Colorito NT 73 Simon Fletcher DE 90 Freddie Gilbert DE 75 Rulon Jones DE 71 Greg Kragen NT 61 Andre Townsend DE

Linebackers (LB) 59 Darren Comeaux OLB 55 Rick Dennison ILB 98 Ricky Hunley ILB 57 Tom Jackson OLB 77 Karl Mecklenburg ILB 50 Jim Ryan OLB 52 Ken Woodard OLB Defensive backs (DB) 43 Steve Foley FS 31 Mike Harden CB 36 Mark Haynes CB 25 Daniel Hunter CB 22 Tony Lilly FS 48 Randy Robbins SS 49 Dennis Smith SS 45 Steve Wilson CB 20 Louis Wright CB Special teams  2 Mike Horan P  3 Rich Karlis K  4 Chris Norman P 13 Jack Weil P

Reserve 32 Joe Dudek RB (IR) 66 Jim Juriga T (IR) 97 Bruce Klosterman ILB (IR) 99 Ray Woodard DE (IR) Rookies in italics

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The Broncos won their first six games of the season, before being defeated by the then-5-1 New York Jets on Monday Night Football. They won two more games to improve to 8–1, tied with the Jets for the best record in the league. Although they would go 3–4 down the stretch, alternating wins and losses, Denver still finished ahead of the Seahawks and Chiefs in first place in the AFC West.

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	September 7	Los Angeles Raiders	W 38–36	1–0	Mile High Stadium	75,695
2	September 15	at Pittsburgh Steelers	W 21–10	2–0	Three Rivers Stadium	57,305
3	September 21	at Philadelphia Eagles	W 33–7	3–0	Veterans Stadium	63,839
4	September 28	New England Patriots	W 27–20	4–0	Mile High Stadium	75,804
5	October 5	Dallas Cowboys	W 29–14	5–0	Mile High Stadium	76,082
6	October 12	at San Diego Chargers	W 31–14	6–0	Jack Murphy Stadium	55,662
7	October 20	at New York Jets	L 10–22	6–1	Giants Stadium	73,759
8	October 26	Seattle Seahawks	W 20–13	7–1	Mile High Stadium	76,089
9	November 2	at Los Angeles Raiders	W 21–10	8–1	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum	90,153
10	November 9	San Diego Chargers	L 3–9	8–2	Mile High Stadium	75,012
11	November 16	Kansas City Chiefs	W 38–17	9–2	Mile High Stadium	75,745
12	November 23	at New York Giants	L 16–19	9–3	Giants Stadium	75,116
13	November 30	Cincinnati Bengals	W 34–28	10–3	Mile High Stadium	58,705
14	December 7	at Kansas City Chiefs	L 10–37	10–4	Arrowhead Stadium	47,019
15	December 13	Washington Redskins	W 31–30	11–4	Mile High Stadium	75,905
16	December 20	at Seattle Seahawks	L 16–41	11–5	Kingdome	63,697
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

1 2 3 4 Total Raiders 16 6 14 0 36 • Broncos 7 14 7 10 38 Date: September 7 Location: Mile High Stadium, Denver, Colorado Game start: 2:00 p.m. MDT Game weather: 49 °F (9 °C) • Wind 9 mph (14 km/h) Referee: Jim Tunney TV announcers (NBC): Don Criqui (play-by-play), Bob Trumpy (color commentator)

Scoring summary 1 DEN Steve Watson 35-yard pass from John Elway (Rich Karlis kick) Broncos 7–0 1 LA Marcus Allen 24-yard pass from Marc Wilson (Chris Bahr kick) Tie 7–7 1 LA Todd Christensen 16-yard pass from Marc Wilson (Chris Bahr kick) Raiders 14–7 1 DEN Safety, John Elway tackled by Greg Townsend in end zone Raiders 16–7 2 LA Chris Bahr 43-yard field goal Raiders 19–7 2 DEN John Elway 23-yard pass from Steve Sewell (Rich Karlis kick) Raiders 19–14 2 LA Chris Bahr 42-yard field goal Raiders 22–14 2 DEN Gene Lang 1-yard run (Rich Karlis kick) Raiders 22–21 3 LA Marcus Allen 2-yard run (Chris Bahr kick) Raiders 29–21 3 DEN Ken Woodard 16-yard fumble return (Rich Karlis kick) Raiders 29–28 3 LA Rod Barksdale 57-yard pass from Marc Wilson (Chris Bahr kick) Raiders 36–28 4 DEN Rich Karlis 51-yard field goal Raiders 36–31 4 DEN Gene Lang 7-yard pass from John Elway (Rich Karlis kick) Broncos 38–36

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1 2 3 4 Total • Broncos 0 7 7 7 21 Steelers 0 0 3 7 10 Date: September 15 Location: Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh Game start: 9:00 p.m. EST Game attendance: 57,305 Game weather: 64 °F (18 °C); wind 7 mph (11 km/h) Referee: Bob McElwee TV announcers (ABC): Frank Gifford and Al Michaels

Scoring summary Q2 DEN Watson 21 yard pass from Elway (Karlis kick) DEN 7–0 Q3 PIT Anderson 42 yard field goal DEN 7–3 Q3 DEN Sewell 34 yard pass from Elway (Karlis kick) DEN 14–3 Q4 PIT Erenberg 7 yard run (Anderson kick) DEN 14–10 Q4 DEN Winder 13 yard pass from Elway (Karlis kick) DEN 21–10

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Scoring summary

Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP Broncos Giants 1 6:46 Broncos 40-yard field goal by Karlis 3 0 2 14:57 Giants 31-yard field goal by Allegre 3 3 2 2:38 Broncos 32-yard field goal by Karlis 6 3 2 0:43 Giants Interception returned 75 yards for touchdown by Martin, Allegre kick good 6 10 3 9:46 Giants 45-yard field goal by Allegre 6 13 3 1:53 Broncos 42-yard field goal by Karlis 9 13 4 10:07 Giants 46-yard field goal by Allegre 9 16 4 1:55 Broncos Winder 4-yard touchdown run, Karlis kick good 16 16 4 0:06 Giants 34-yard field goal by Allegre 16 19 "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 16 19

AFC West
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Denver Broncos(2)	11	5	0	.688	5–3	8–4	378	327	L1
Kansas City Chiefs(5)	10	6	0	.625	5–3	9–5	358	326	W3
Seattle Seahawks	10	6	0	.625	5–3	7–5	366	293	W5
Los Angeles Raiders	8	8	0	.500	4–4	7–5	323	346	L4
San Diego Chargers	4	12	0	.250	1–7	4–8	335	396	L2

Round	Date	Opponent (seed)	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
Divisional	January 4, 1987	New England Patriots (3)	W 22–17	1–0	Mile High Stadium	76,105
AFC Championship	January 11, 1987	at Cleveland Browns (1)	W 23–20 (OT)	2–0	Cleveland Stadium	79,915
Super Bowl XXI	January 25, 1987	New York Giants (N1)	L 20–39	2–1	Rose Bowl	101,063

They won their divisional playoff game against the Patriots at home 22–17. They then played the Cleveland Browns in Cleveland for the AFC Championship. The game culminated in the famous "Drive", where John Elway led a 98-yard drive for a touchdown pass to Mark Jackson to tie the game and send it to overtime, where they won by a field goal, 23–20.

This game is best remembered for The Drive when the Broncos drove 98 yards to tie the game with 37 seconds left in regulation, and Denver kicker Rich Karlis made the game-winning 33-yard field goal 5:38 into overtime.

The Browns scored first when quarterback Bernie Kosar threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to running back Herman Fontenot at the end of an 86-yard drive. But the Broncos then scored 10 unanswered points: Karlis' 19-yard field goal and running back Gerald Willhite's 1-yard rushing touchdown. Cleveland kicker Mark Moseley's 29-yard field goal before halftime tied the score, 10–10. The teams exchanged punts before Kosar completed a 48-yard touchdown pass to Brian Brennan with 5:43 remaining in regulation. Elway then led his team from their own 2-yard line to tie the game on wide receiver Mark Jackson's 5-yard touchdown reception with 37 seconds left in regulation. Karlis' game-winning field goal in overtime capped a 60-yard drive after the Browns were forced to punt.

The Browns had jumped to a 20–13 lead and the Broncos had muffed the ensuing kickoff when Elway took over, first-and-10 on their own 2-yard line, with 5:32 to play in the game.

1. – First down and 10, Denver 2-yard line. Sammy Winder 5-yard pass from Elway.

2. – Second down and 5, Denver 7-yard line. Winder 3-yard run.

3. – Third down and 2, Denver 10-yard line. Winder 2-yard run.

4. – First down and 10, Denver 12-yard line. Winder 3-yard run.

5. – Second down and 7, Denver 15-yard line. Elway 11-yard run.

6. – First down and 10, Denver 26-yard line. Steve Sewell 22-yard pass from Elway.

7. – First down and 10, Denver 48-yard line. S. Watson 12-yard pass from Elway.

Two-minute warning

8. – First down and 10, Cleveland 40-yard line (1:59 remaining). Incomplete pass by Elway, intended for Vance Johnson.

9. – Second down and 10, Cleveland 40-yard line (1:52 remaining). Dave Puzzilli sack of Elway, 8-yard loss.

10. – Third down and 18, Cleveland 48-yard line (1:47 remaining). Mark Jackson 20-yard pass from Elway.

11. – First down and 10, Cleveland 28-yard line (1:19 remaining). Incomplete pass by Elway, intended for Watson.

12. – Second down and 10, Cleveland 28-yard line (1:10 remaining). Steve Sewell 14-yard pass from Elway.

13. – First down and 10, Cleveland 14-yard line (:57 remaining). Incomplete pass by Elway, intended for Watson.

14. – Second down and 10, Cleveland 14-yard line (:42 remaining). John Elway 9-yard run (scramble).

15. – Third down and 1, Cleveland 5-yard line (:39 remaining). Mark Jackson 5-yard pass from Elway for the touchdown. Rich Karlis then adds the extra point to tie the game.

They played the Giants in Super Bowl XXI, losing 20–39, the first of Elway's five Super Bowls and the first of his three losses. Despite leading 10–9 at halftime, the Broncos collapsed in the second half as the Giants scored 30 points to Denver's ten.

Scoring summary

Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP Broncos Giants 1 10:51 8 45 4:09 Broncos 48-yard field goal by Karlis 3 0 1 5:27 9 78 5:24 Giants Mowatt 6-yard touchdown reception from Simms, Allegre kick good 3 7 1 2:06 6 58 3:21 Broncos Elway 4-yard touchdown run, Karlis kick good 10 7 2 2:46 3 -15 0:45 Giants Elway tackled in end zone for a safety by Martin 10 9 3 10:08 8 63 4:52 Giants Bavaro 13-yard touchdown reception from Simms, Allegre kick good 10 16 3 3:54 9 32 5:07 Giants 21-yard field goal by Allegre 10 19 3 0:24 5 68 2:14 Giants Morris 1-yard touchdown run, Allegre kick good 10 26 4 10:56 6 52 3:50 Giants McConkey 6-yard touchdown reception from Simms, Allegre kick good 10 33 4 6:01 13 73 4:55 Broncos 28-yard field goal by Karlis 13 33 4 3:18 5 46 1:43 Giants Anderson 2-yard touchdown run, Allegre kick no good 13 39 4 2:06 5 69 1:12 Broncos Johnson 47-yard touchdown reception from Elway, Karlis kick good 20 39 "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 20 39

Denver scored 378 points during the year, sixth in the NFL. They gave up 327 points, 15th in the league.

The Broncos were 17th in the league in total offense, with 5,489 yards. They had 3,811 passing yards and 1,678 rushing yards. They had 22 passing touchdowns and 17 rushing touchdowns.

They were 17th in the league with 3,755 passing yards given up and 15th with 1,891 rushing yards given up. They were 21st in overall defense with 5,646 yards given up.

The team's 11–5 record is their sixth-best 16-game season in franchise history.

• John Elway had 280 completions for 3,485 yards, 19 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. He also had 52 rushes for 257 yards, third highest on the team, and one rushing touchdown. He was fifth in the league in completions, ninth in total yards, and tenth in touchdowns.
• Mark Jackson had 38 receptions for 738 yards and one touchdown. Steve Watson had 45 receptions for 699 yards and three touchdowns. Vance Johnson had 31 receptions for 363 yards and two touchdowns. Clint Sampson had 21 receptions for 259 yards. Orson Mobley had 22 reception for 332 yards and one touchdown.
• The primary running back Sammy Winder had 240 rushes for 789 yards and 9 touchdowns, seventh highest in the league. He also had five touchdown receptions, giving him 14 total touchdowns for the season, fourth in the league. Gerald Willhite had 85 rushes for 365 yards and five rushing touchdowns and 64 receptions for 529 yards and 3 receiving touchdowns.
• Rich Karlis kicked 20 field goals out of 28 attempted, including the game-winning field goal in the AFC Championship Game. He kicked 44 out of 45 extra points.

• Keith Bishop, AFC Pro Bowl selection
• John Elway, AFC Pro Bowl selection
• Rulon Jones, AFC Pro Bowl selection
• Karl Mecklenburg, AFC Pro Bowl selection
• Dennis Smith, AFC Pro Bowl selection
• Sammy Winder, AFC Pro Bowl selection

• Denver Broncos – 1986 media guide
• 1986 Denver Broncos at Pro-Football-Reference.com