Timeline 25: Remembering the biggest Colorado sports stories of 2015
Jul 14, 2020, 6:24 AM
On March 6, 1995, The Fan was born. In the 25 years since, a lot has transpired on the fields, courts and ice in Colorado, giving the hosts and listeners who’ve been part of the station during that time plenty to talk about and debate.
During the course of the next few weeks, we’ll take a look back at that history, remembering the good times and the bad, the winners and the losers, the successes and the failures. It’s a series we’re calling “Timeline 25” and it continues today with a look at a one of the biggest roller-coaster years in Colorado sports history – 2015.
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Father Time Remained Undefeated
The 2015 season was a strange one for Peyton Manning. His team was playing well, starting the season 7-0, and he was establishing new NFL all-time records, but he wasn’t the same quarterback.
Gone were the “Star Wars” numbers that he’d posted during the first 17 years of his career. In their place were pedestrian stats, the type usually posted by game managers.
In part, this was due to the system the Broncos were running. Head coach Gary Kubiak and offensive coordinator Rick Dennison wanted to get Denver back to the offense they’d been a part of when the franchise won back-to-back Super Bowls in 1997 and ’98. That put Manning under center, where he wasn’t comfortable, and asked him to play a much more conservative brand of football.
It wasn’t a smooth transition for the future Hall of Fame quarterback. Through nine games, he’d only posted two 300-yard games and thrown nine touchdowns, while tossing 17 interceptions.
The ugliness came to a head in a Week 10 match-up with the Chiefs. That day, when Manning ironically set the league’s new mark for most passing yards in a career, he had his worst day as a pro. By game’s end, he had completed just five of 20 passes for 34 yards, while throwing four picks. His QB rating on the day was 0.00.
After the debacle against Kansas City, Manning was placed on the shelf. It was announced that he was suffering from a partially torn plantar fascia in his left foot, which was affecting his ability to throw the ball. Brock Osweiler would start while Manning was out.
For a while, that looked like it might be a permanent change. Osweiler won four of his first six starts, including critical home wins over the Patriots and the Bengals. Heading into the season finale against the Chargers, the Broncos had a chance to clinch the No. 1 seed in the AFC.
Of course, they could also fall all the way to No. 6 with a loss. Midway through the third quarter, that looked like a real possibility, as Denver trailed 13-7.
But Manning came off the bench with 8:18 to play in the third, led the Broncos on a touchdown drive and the team never looked back. By the time the clock hit 00:00, Denver had won 27-20 and clinched the top seed in the conference.
Manning had also regained his status as the team’s starting quarterback. When the playoffs rolled around, “The Sheriff” would be back in charge.
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Tu-No!
It all started off so well for Troy Tulowitzki in Colorado. As a rookie, he helped lead the Rockies to one of the most-improbable runs in sports history, serving as one of the catalysts to “Rocktober” at the end of the 2007 season.
Roughly eight years later, however, things had soured. The team was struggling, Tulowitzki was missing a lot of games due to injuries and both sides were ready for a change.
Midway through the 2015 campaign, which would end with a dismal 68-94 record for Colorado, the Rockies finally gave their four-time All-Star his wish. Tulowitzki was traded to the Blue Jays.
What first-year general manager Jeff Bridich got in return, however, was less than stellar. They were forced to take on the salary of Jose Reyes, another disgruntled shortstop. They landed pitcher Miguel Castro, who went 0-7 during his stint with the Rockies. They acquired Jeff Hoffman, a hard-throwing right-hander is 8-15 during his up-and-down four years in Colorado. And Jesus Tinoco went 0-3 last year in purple pinstripes, after finally making it to the big leagues.
Once one of the most-popular athletes in Colorado sports history, Tulo was eventually sent packing for very little in return. He ended his career with the Rockies with a .299 batting average, 188 home runs, 657 RBIs and two Gold Gloves. Tulowitzki was also a joy to watch, providing many highlights at the plate and in the field.
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Defense Wins Championships
It didn’t take long to realize that the Broncos defense would be the phase of the game that would carry Denver during the 2015 season. There was evidence right out of the gate.
The team’s first touchdown of the year came on a pick-six, as Aqib Talib intercepted Joe Flacco during the third quarter of the season opener and ran it back 51 yards for a touchdown. The fact that Denver’s offense hadn’t found the end zone through more than a half, playing at home, was also a sign of things to come.
The next week, after Manning led the Broncos on an 80-yard, game-tying touchdown drive in at Kansas City, Denver’s defense sealed the win in Kansas City. Jamaal Charles fumbled in the waning seconds of the game, Bradley Roby picked up the ball and ran 21 yards to pay dirt.
Two games. Two defensive touchdowns. Both of which provided the margin of victory.
This type of opportunistic play would continue throughout the season. Time and time again, a pass rush powered by Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware, as well as a playmaking secondary that would become known as “The No Fly Zone,” dominated opponents.
By season’s end, the Broncos defense was ranked No. 1 in the NFL. They forced 34 turnovers and scored five touchdowns, providing a much-needed boost on the scoreboard when the offense struggled.
And it all almost never came to be. Denver’s defense was led by Wade Phillips, a coordinator who turned 68 prior to the season but had enjoyed a lot of success during his multiple-decade career in the NFL. He wasn’t the Broncos first choice for the job, however. He only got the assignment after the Bengals refused to let John Elway interview one of their promising, young assistants – Vance Joseph.
Given how the 2015 season ended up (see Thursday’s edition of “Timeline 25”) and what VJ would do once he finally got to Denver, Cincinnati did the Broncos an enormous favor. The result was one of the greatest defenses in league history.
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A Change in Philosophy
The 2014-15 season didn’t go well for the Nuggets. Just two years removed from a season in which they won 57 games, Denver was once again on the outside looking in come playoff time.
And they weren’t even close. The Nuggets would finish the season 30-52, 21 games out in the Northwest Division.
Brian Shaw wouldn’t make it to that point, however. Before the end of his second season in Denver, the head coach was fired. On March 3, 2015, the Nuggets parted ways with Shaw, who had posted a 56-85 (.397) record after taking over a playoff-caliber team.
Melvin Hunt took the team home, inspiring them at times, but never really changing the franchise’s course. By the end of the year, it was obvious that a total change was necessary.
That came to fruition on June 15, when Michael Malone was hired. The new head coach had a tall order in front of him, as the Nuggets were transitioning to a new era, going young and trying to build through the draft.
It would take a few years to come together, but Denver has made steady improvement under Malone. During his tenure, they’ve won 33, 40, 46 and 54 games, earning the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference and capturing the Northwest Division title a year ago. This season, the team was well on their way to matching or besting those accomplishments when the COVID-19 pandemic caused the NBA to shut down in mid-March.
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Out-Foxed
Things didn’t start well for the Broncos in 2015. Just 11 days into the year, the team saw its once-promising 2014 campaign come to a screeching halt, as they were beat in the Divisional Playoffs by the Colts.
There were a lot of reasons why this defeat was embarrassing. It was the second time in three years that Denver had lost its playoff opener on its home field, which is far from a good trend. The once high-powered offense led by Peyton Manning was held to just 13 points, a sign of things to come. And the team seemed in disarray, particularly in the coaching ranks.
Before the game even started, Fox’s Jay Glazer reported that John Fox was in talks with the Bears to become their new head coach. That’s right, prior to his team playing in a playoff game, during a season in which they had legitimate Super Bowl aspirations, the head coach was lining up his next gig.
To make matters worse, the Broncos top assistant coaches were also distracted. Both Adam Gase and Jack Del Rio spent the team’s bye week before their playoff opener interviewing for head coaching jobs. Gase was expected to land with the 49ers, although he’d inexplicably get beat out by Jim Tomsula for the gig, while Del Rio was the front runner with the Raiders, a job he’d land.
Looking like a team that wasn’t on the same page in any way, Denver got outplayed by Indianapolis from start to finish, losing 24-13. It was a loss that would mark the end of an era in the Mile High City.
The next day, Fox and John Elway decided that it was time for the head coach and the franchise to part ways. Three days later, Foxy landed the Bears job, to the surprise of no one. He took Gase with him, as well as several other members of the coaching staff.
This allowed Elway to clean house. Ultimately, he’d hire the head coach he wanted a year earlier – long-time friend Gary Kubiak.
On January 18, Kubiak was introduced to the Denver media. And an up-and-down year, which would ultimately end in triumph, was put in motion.
