playJeff LegwoldSep 14, 2026, 06:00 AM ETCloseJeff Legwold covers the Denver Broncos at ESPN. He has covered the Broncos for more than 20 years and also assists with NFL draft coverage, joining ESPN in 2013. He has been a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Board of Selectors since 1999, too. Jeff previously covered the Pittsburgh Steelers, Buffalo Bills and Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans at previous stops prior to ESPN.Multiple AuthorsOpen Extended ReactionsENGLEWOOD, Colo. — When Aqib Talib looks at the current version of the Denver Broncos, he sees a reflection of his football past.”They’re us,” the former Pro Bowl cornerback said when comparing the current Broncos to the franchise’s Super Bowl 50 championship team.
“They all love ball, talk to each other, hold each other to it. It’s clear as day when you see it.”Talib is not the only player from the Broncos’ most recent Super Bowl-winning team to see history potentially repeating itself. Dallas Cowboys edge rusher Von Miller — who was the MVP of the Broncos’ Super Bowl win over the Carolina Panthers at the end of the 2015 season — feels a similar vibe with the 2026 Broncos.”Oh yeah, I see it,” Miller said earlier this summer. “They do it the way we did it. …
You can tell they keep it straight with each other.”This is turn-back-the-clock stuff for Talib, Miller and those who lived it in 2015. They see similarities between how their championship team was set up and how the current Broncos, who were 14-3 last season and went to the AFC Championship Game, function. The two teams share parallels on and off the field, including institutional support, reliance on an elite-level defense and a penchant for thriving in close games. And these Broncos now hope that the culture created from this formula gets them a Super Bowl win, just like the 2015 team.
Denver begins its quest for its fourth title when it plays at the Kansas City Chiefs on “Monday Night Football” (8:15 p.m. ET, ESPN/ABC).”Real winning is in what you might not even see until it’s right,” Talib said. “It’s that attitude, that giving and sharing. You give everything you have, and you don’t ever lower that bar on anything, and you hold each other to it every day.
And you get guys who can take that accountability. They have it, we had it.”When Broncos coach Sean Payton is asked a question about winning, his responses start with words like program, grit and culture. He believes this roster has those things, which is why 45 of the players who were on the 53-man roster for last season’s opener still remain with the franchise.That rate of retention is almost unheard of in the NFL and is risky in its own way. But Payton believed this group was good enough to be in the Super Bowl hunt last season because of how it was assembled — and believes it is good enough again.”Culture is one of those things, we all talk about it, it’s like a go-to word sometimes, but to really have it … it’s rare I think,” Broncos defensive tackle Zach Allen said.
“Some places just say they have it and it’s really nowhere to be found. … If you need to be pushed, or reminded to work, or, like be told to get to work, you’re not going to be around here.”‘Finding the right people’Payton has often said that the number of NFL teams that can actually win a Super Bowl is fewer than most think because “a lot of them have trouble getting out of their own way.”When Payton, who coached the New Orleans Saints from 2006 to 2021, looked to return to coaching in 2023, he searched for franchises that had a “triangle” for success. That involves ownership that provides and understands the resources and infrastructure it takes to win; a personnel department capable of finding the right players; and a coaching staff with the game-day chops and developmental skills to make the most of that talent. And all three of those sides of the triangle must be connected, with a clear vision.”It’s still finding the right people, ownership like we have in Greg and Carrie [Penner] and our group, like [general manager] George [Paton] and our relationship,” Payton said.
“… So when you get that triangle, and you get the ownership triangle … you have a chance to then do the right things, a chance to acquire the right people.”Gary Kubiak, who coached the Super Bowl 50 winner and spent more than two decades with the Broncos as a player, assistant coach and head coach, had a similar mindset to Payton. He described the 2015 dynamic, when he and then-executive vice president of football operations John Elway worked together to form the roster, as a “talent puzzle.”They agreed that not all players will fit together, no matter their talent level, if there is not a clear mission about which players are acquired and retained. Talib calls it the process of finding players with “good ego” and avoiding those with “bad ego.””Good ego is you know what you can do … and we hold up each other to the standard, don’t pull down, pull up, no grudges, just real talk,” he said.
“But you get bad ego, and talent don’t mean s—.”Many players on both 2015 and 2026 versions of the Broncos say it’s that mix that separates them. That the character and accountability have to hold up under stress and the inevitable tests of a season.Kubiak said the current Broncos show the mission he saw in the 2015 team.”It’s always about the players,” Kubiak said. “But the 53 most talented guys just put into the meeting room probably won’t win if they don’t go together. They have to demand of each other to prepare right, demand of each other to be smart, if that’s something you’re getting from your group, not coaches, the group, that’s special.”Payton calls it the “debrief,” when the game that has just been played is put through the grinder.
He has often said the debrief might be more important than the game itself. No matter the result, Broncos players know what’s coming.”Honest talk,” Broncos cornerback Jahdae Barron said. “Look at it, assess it, fix it. And that’s everybody.”Talib, Chris Harris Jr. and T.J.
Ward — members of the 2015 secondary — said weekly players-only film sessions by the defensive backs were a constant exercise in accountability 11 years back.”All those cliches and s—, it’s true; you don’t have that ‘everyone is accountable’ mentality, you ain’t going to get the ultimate prize,” Kubiak said. “You’ve got to have it from the top down in the building, at every locker in your locker room.”‘Just play badass defense’The 2015 Broncos had one of the best defensive postseason runs in the Super Bowl era. Denver’s defense surrendered only one total touchdown pass in three playoff games combined against Ben Roethlisberger, Tom Brady and Cam Newton, that season’s MVP. The Broncos had 14 sacks and 32 quarterback hits in the playoffs, and Miller capped off that run as the ninth (and most recent) defensive player to be named Super Bowl MVP.It was the continuation of a regular season in which the Broncos led the league in defensive EPA (by a whopping 17 points), sacks, total defense and pass defense.
Denver was also No. 4 in scoring defense. The rugged, make-things-happen group allowed the 2015 team to stay afloat despite injuries and inconsistency from quarterback Peyton Manning. Manning missed seven games with a foot injury and completed a league-low 59.8% of his passes with 17 interceptions (second most in the NFL).”We just felt, and I think as a coach you take it with you into every game, that our defense was going to keep us in it,” Kubiak said. “…
Even after Peyton was injured and Brock [Osweiler] was playing, we could put things together week-to-week knowing we could play tight games … and feel good about winning them.”The current Broncos have also been led by their defense. Denver’s defense led the league in sacks in each of the past two years, setting franchise records in each of those seasons. Edge rusher Nik Bonitto has turned into an All-Pro (14 sacks in 2025), finishing second to Micah Parsons last season in pre
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