The year in 1997 sports was one of long-sought redemption, be it an individual, a college program or a professional organization. Teams and players that had gone through frustrating searches for championships began breaking through.
Everything was about redemption for the 1997 Denver Broncos, both short-term and long-term. In the short-term, this was a team that had the #1 seed in the AFC playoffs and lost in a big upset at home to the Jacksonville Jaguars. In the long-term, 37-year-old quarterback John Elway had yet to win a Super Bowl, was 0-3 in his three previous trips (1986, 1987 & 1989) and after the ’96 loss, looked ready to end his career with the “never won the big one” millstone hanging around his neck.