Before this week’s game, let’s take a look back at the most hated Broncos of all time by Chiefs Kingdom.
The Kansas City Chiefs, arguably the best team in the league even while owners of the second best record, face the reeling Denver Broncos on Sunday Night Football this weekend.
The Chiefs are returning to Arrowhead Stadium on a six-game win streak, fresh off a victory over a Tampa Bay Buccaneers team which had Super Bowl aspirations to start the season. The Broncos are coming off a game in which a practice squad wide receiver started at quarterback and completed one pass.
Even with a full deck, the Chiefs mercilessly hammered the Broncos in their first contest earlier this season. It’s hard to imagine the Chiefs won’t duplicate that under the bright lights in Kansas City.
Given the second contest is likely to be more of the same, it might be fun to take a look back at some Bronco teams that were more competitive. Specifically, who are the most hated Denver Broncos of all time?
5. Champ Bailey
Champ Bailey was one of the best players in the league during much of his 15 seasons. From 2000 to 2012 Bailey made the Pro Bowl 12 times, was named either first or second team All Pro seven times, and was the runner-up for the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2006.
Truth be told, Bailey himself was an upstanding competitor. There’s very little, if any, reason to hate him outside of the fact that he played for the Chiefs main rival for 12 seasons. He had a habit of locking down the Chiefs best receiver, to the endless frustration of Chiefs fans everywhere.
The fact is, he was a great player, arguably one of the best Broncos of all time, and that is enough to land him at number five on this list.
4. Peyton Manning
Truthfully, Peyton Manning comes across as one of the consummate good guys in NFL history. From his teammates’ tales, to Peyton’s places on NFL Network where he visits Hall of Famers from each team, to his comedic commercials and SNL hosting throughout the years, Manning has cultivated a larger-than-life personality that is universally admired. I’ll be honest, as a fan of football in general, he’s one of my favorite football icons of this past generation.
Still, he inflicted a significant amount of pain on the Kansas City Chiefs franchise. In both his time as an Indianapolis Colt and subsequently with the Denver Broncos, Manning consistently dominated the Chiefs or simply stood in the way of playoff berths.
Though he played far more seasons for the Colts, he still easily falls on this list having smashed the Chiefs a number of times in his four seasons with the Broncos. During his tenure, Chiefs Kingdom even had to stomach another Super Bowl victory for their orange and navy blue nemesis.
Arguably the sweetest element of Peyton Manning’s time with the Broncos came in his final season with the team, and his final contest against the Kansas City Chiefs. In that game, on November 15th, 2015, Peyton Manning seemingly fell apart.
In just the first half he threw an impressive four interceptions en route to his benching in favor of Brock Osweiler. While the Broncos still went on to win the Super Bowl that season, this contest in hindsight looks to be the unofficial end of their reign of dominance. The Chiefs have won the AFC West in every season since, and the Broncos have yet to make the playoffs.
Following his retirement, it’s easy to root for a person like Peyton Manning. Even so, he was a particular pain for Chiefs Kingdom during his time with the Broncos and that is enough to place him on the list.
3. Shannon Sharpe
Shannon Sharpe was a seven-time Pro Bowler and four-time All Pro during his 12 seasons with the Denver Broncos. He holds numerous records at the tight end position and is widely regarded as one of the best to ever play the position—a significant link in the evolutionary chain we’ve seen at the position in recent years.
Sharpe is also one of the most hated players in Chiefs Kingdom. As a member of the Broncos, Sharpe played against the Chiefs 23 times. In those games he accumulated 1,419 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns, with a personal record of 14-9.
Ironically, his best game against the Chiefs came near the end of his career, in which he set the NFL record for most receiving yards for a tight end in a single game with 214. Yet, probably the most memorable story of Sharpe versus the Chiefs came in 1998 on Monday Night Football.
The Broncos at the time were on fire at 9-0, fresh off a Super Bowl victory. The Chiefs were struggling at 4-5, fresh off a season where they won the division. The season would not improve for the Chiefs, who fell behind 23-7, and any hope of a victory was squashed on the Broncos last touchdown drive.
The Chiefs defense was penalized an unheard of five times for unsportsmanlike conduct, with Derrick Thomas receiving three of those penalties. Why was Thomas so out of control? Legend has it that Sharpe was able to effectively get under his skin in a rather unique way. How? By reciting Thomas’ girlfriend’s number before each snap of that drive.
Again, this is urban legend. Even in his comments following the game, Sharpe didn’t mention this occurring, but so the story goes. Lamar Hunt would go on to condemn Thomas’ actions in the game, saying they disgraced the franchise and the community.
It’s this story, along with his dominance at the position, against the Chiefs that place the Hall of Fame player and trash talker on this list of most hated Denver Broncos of all time.
2. Bill Romanowski
Bill Romanowski was the type of person who was born to play the brutal sport of football. He fit the caricature of the classic tough guy in a way that turned most fans, and even his teammates, off to him.
Romanowski has a litany of dirty offenses while playing in the NFL. Some of his more memorably dirty plays were when in 1995 he kicked Arizona Cardinals fullback Larry Centers in the head, or in 1997 when he spit in the face of San Francisco 49ers wide receiver J.J. Stokes.
The particular moment that probably rings most clearly for Chiefs fans was Romanowski’s altercation with all-time Chiefs great and statesman Tony Gonzalez. Gonzalez is generally considered a mild-mannered individual, but that didn’t stop Romanowski.
Those prior mentioned instances almost make Romanowski’s altercation with Gonzalez a non-story. During the 1999 season Romanowski was fine a substantial amount for multiple illegal hits and a punch thrown at Gonzalez. When Gonzalez asked Romanowski why he kept doing these things, he famously told him “I don’t care, I’ve got a lot of money.”
It’s this altercation, and the mentality that went along with it, that place Romanowski firmly on this list at number two. As one of the dirtiest players in NFL history, the only reason he didn’t top the list was because the following player is still a major figure in the franchise over 20 years after his playing days.
1. John Elway
There’s really no other player on this list who could finish first. John Elway isn’t only one of the most hated Denver Broncos in Chiefs Kingdom, he’s arguably the most hated NFL player from any team for this fan base.
This was in part because he helmed the Broncos to numerous Super Bowl appearances and two Super Bowl victories in the 1990s, standing in the way of multiple Chiefs contenders in one of the more dominant decades of the franchise’s history.
The other reason, and likely the more pertinent one, is that Elway developed a reputation of complaining to the referees. The most famous of these complaints happened almost 30 years to the day from the game happening on Sunday.
On December 9th, 1990 the Denver Broncos traveled to Arrowhead Stadium to face the Chiefs. While the Chiefs had seen significant improvement that season in their second year under Marty Schottenheimer, the Broncos had regressed considerably despite winning the first matchup the teams had in Week 2.
At one point during the game, with Elway’s back to the raging red and gold sea, the fans’ chorus of cheers nearly shook the foundations of Arrowhead Stadium. In one of the more unbecoming moments in NFL history for any player, Elway complained to the referees who then proceeded to threaten the crowd with a penalty on the home team if they did not quiet down.
This moment alone, without the wounds sustained from actually playing him, makes John Elway far and away the most hated Denver Bronco of all time. Lucky for Chiefs fans of this generation, they now get the enjoyment of seeing their favorite team throttle Elway’s Broncos twice each season.