The birds helped the Broncos 2015 championship team take flight.
Peyton Manning is more organized than Kim Kardashian’s closet. His life operates on routines, consistency. Complete the task. Move on.
So after several weeks of rehabbing a plantar fasciitis foot injury that season, throwing to Jordan “Sunshine” Taylor in the Pat Bowlen Fieldhouse, Manning was ready to return.
Feeling like he was being spied on, Manning delivered a message to coach Gary Kubiak.
“When you are hurt, you feel left out. Like the kid that doesn’t get to go on the playground. I felt like I was throwing the ball well,” Manning said. “I wanted to see if someone was really watching.”
Turns out, Kubiak was indeed checking on the former MVP. What he saw surprised him. And more than a decade later, it still does.
“The first video I saw, it only had one barrel (flipping him off),” Kubiak said with a laugh. “I knew he was mad. Really he was saying, ‘Hey, dumb (bleep), are you going to put me in?’^”
Wednesday night provided a reminder of how it turned out when Manning returned to the lineup. Joined by five teammates and Kubiak, the 2015 Broncos celebrated the Night of Champions at the Paramount Theatre.
The bulk of the team came together last fall for a 10-year reunion and the induction of the late Demaryius Thomas into the Ring of Fame.
But this was different, more personal, more laughs, showing why Manning decided to hold live events honoring the 2006 Colts, 1989 San Francisco 49ers and Pat Summitt’s legacy at the University of Tennessee.
“It was special (in October), but we didn’t have the MVP of the team there, Von Miller, because he is still out there playing. So we felt like it was missing something,” Manning said. “This was a chance for the fans to go behind the ropes. When you have a team honored in a stadium it is not the most intimate. This event was all about the fans.”
Based on the reaction of the orange bleached crowd, it is clear Manning read the room like he did defenses for 18 seasons. Manning received a standing ovation. And the roar that greeted Von Miller pierced ears down the 16th Street Mall.
There is a common refrain about seasons that end in rings. The players, it is said, walk together forever as champions.
But the fans become part of the connective tissue as well.
Ryan, Marshall, and Amy Torres of Pueblo, Colorado take a photo prior to the \xe2\x80\x9cNight of Champions\xe2\x80\x9d event in Denver on Wednesday, April 22, 2026. (Photo by Harmon Dobson/The Denver Post)
“Why come here? Why wouldn’t I? This was such a special team. This gives us a chance to hear the stories and relive it,” said Leroy Garcia from Colorado Springs, before posing with a replica of the Super Bowl 50 trophy. “There was no way I was going to miss this.”
Manning brought together a cross-section of players whose stories highlighted the special talent and personalities on the Super Bowl 50 team. DeMarcus Ware and Manning are football immortals, enshrined in the Hall of Fame. If Miller ever retires, he will join them.
Star power was required, but unselfishness defined the locker room. Kubiak spoke of the importance of everybody contributing, of playing for the person next to you in the locker room.
The Broncos knew during minicamp that something different was percolating. The offensive had weapons and the defense boasted two fang-bearing edge rushers and a No Fly Zone secondary that humbled All-Pros, MVPs and journeymen without remorse.
“I remember when I joined the team, I thought I was going to be The Man. Then we went through a walk-through and I was like, ‘(Bleep) I am not going to be The Man,’^” Talib said. “We didn’t have one hole. Not one.”
The Broncos opened the season with seven straight wins. The confidence was tangible. Denver believed they could beat anyone because of a defense that closed better than the Yankees’ Mariano Rivera.
“Legendary. The D-line, they had their own special relationship. Our linebackers (Danny Trevathan and Brandon Marshall) were two of the best in the league, straight ballers. And obviously we knew as a secondary we were always going to do what we needed to,” Pro Bowl safety T.J. Ward said. “When you perform the way we did, that’s how you become legendary.”
The way sports operate, however, titles are required to bring people together years later. Greatness is measured in championships.
Miller and Ware wrote a diary of havoc in the postseason. And the offense did just enough, squeaking past the Steelers and Patriots. The New England game remains the loudest the new stadium has ever been. The victory required noise and faith.
“I played for (defensive coordinator) Wade Phillips for like 10 years. And he dedicated one game every season to his dad (Bum Phillips). We won all of them,” said Ware. “I am tearing up thinking about it. We couldn’t let him down.”
As the confetti fell, the gravity of what was ahead took shape. Owner Pat Bowlen wanted a third Super Bowl crown. The players wanted one for Ware, who was ringless, and Manning, who was expected to retire. And, they did not know it then, they needed it as a touchstone memory to honor Thomas.
“If there was a Hall of Fame for teammates, he would be in it,” Miller said. “When I had my first child, he was the first person I called and Face-timed. He was one of one.”
The Broncos thrashed the Carolina Panthers, turning regular season MVP Cam Newton into a Fig Newton. That game is remembered in photos of the defense pouncing, taunting, finger-wagging. All of the swag came together in one night.
It took a coach with patience, who was honest and stern. It required role players willing to sacrifice. And it demanded stars meet the moment, no matter how bright the glare and long the odds.
As the calendar has flipped, as the years have passed, the narrative of those Broncos has changed, filling in the gaps. They were characters. But they won because of character.
“Everybody that wins a Super Bowl, they all say it was a unique team. But I am telling you that the word team could not be more personified than with that Super Bowl 50 group,” Manning said. “Everybody had a job. Everybody was completely unselfish. We never argued. It was really special.”
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