1989 Denver Broncos season

The 1989 Denver Broncos season was the team's 30th year in professional football and its 20th with the National Football League (NFL). The head coach was Dan Reeves while Chan Gailey was the offensive coordinator and Wade Phillips was the defensive coordinator. In the postseason Denver won a nail biter over the Pittsburgh Steelers 24–23 then cruised over the Cleveland Browns 37–21 in the AFC Championship Game.

1989 Denver Broncos season
Owner	Pat Bowlen
General manager	John Beake
Head coach	Dan Reeves
Offensive coordinator	Chan Gailey
Defensive coordinator	Wade Phillips
Home stadium	Mile High Stadium
Results
Record	11–5
Division place	1st AFC West
Playoffs	Won Divisional Playoffs (vs. Steelers) 24–23 Won AFC Championship (vs. Browns) 37–21 Lost Super Bowl XXIV (vs. 49ers) 10–55
Pro Bowlers	QB John Elway DT Greg Kragen LB Karl Mecklenburg S Dennis Smith K David Treadwell
Uniform
← 1988 Broncos seasons 1990 →

The season ended with the Broncos being blown out 55–10 in Super Bowl XXIV by the San Francisco 49ers.

Offseason

NFL draft

Main article: 1989 NFL draft

1989 Denver Broncos draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
1	20	Steve Atwater * †	S	Arkansas
1	Supp	Bobby Humphrey	RB	Alabama
2	41	Doug Widell	G	Boston College
2	47	Warren Powers	DE	Maryland
3	69	Darrell Hamilton	T	North Carolina
4	97	Jake McCullough	DE	Clemson
5	134	Darren Carrington	S	Northern Arizona
6	152	Anthony Stafford	WR	Oklahoma
7	180	Melvin Bratton	RB	Miami (FL)
8	208	Paul Green	TE	USC
9	236	Monte Smith	G	North Dakota State
9	241	Wayne Williams	RB	Florida
10	264	Anthony Butts	DE	Mississippi State
11	292	Richard Shelton	DB	Liberty
12	320	John Javis	WR	Howard
Made roster    †   Pro Football Hall of Fame    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

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Undrafted free agents

1989 undrafted free agents of note

Player	Position	College
Pat Hegarty	Quarterback	UTEP
Chris Rule	Quarterback	Colorado State

Personnel

1989 Denver Broncos staff

Front office President and chief executive officer – Pat Bowlen General manager – John Beake Director of football operations – Lide Huggins Director of player personnel – Reed Johnson Administrative assistant to head coach and general manager – Joe DeCamillis Head coaches Vice-president/head coach – Dan Reeves Special assistant – Marvin Bass Offensive coaches Offensive coordinator/wide receivers – Chan Gailey Quarterbacks – Mike Shanahan (hired Oct 16) Running backs – Mo Forte Tight ends/assistant offensive line – Pete Mangurian Offensive line – George Henshaw

Defensive coaches Defensive coordinator – Wade Phillips Defensive line – Earl Leggett Linebackers – Mike Nolan Defensive backs – Charlie Waters Special teams coaches Special teams – Harold Richardson Strength and conditioning Strength/conditioning – Al Miller Assistant strength and conditioning – Barney Chavous

Roster

1989 Denver Broncos roster

Quarterbacks (QB)  7 John Elway  8 Gary Kubiak Running backs (RB) 40 Jeff Alexander FB 35 Ken Bell 32 Mel Bratton FB 26 Bobby Humphrey 30 Steve Sewell 23 Sammy Winder Wide receivers (WR) 80 Mark Jackson 82 Vance Johnson KR 84 Ricky Nattiel KR 83 Mike Young Tight ends (TE) 88 Clarence Kay 87 Pat Kelly 89 Orson Mobley

Offensive linemen (OL) 54 Keith Bishop 66 Jim Juriga G 72 Keith Kartz C 76 Ken Lanier T 60 Gerald Perry T 57 Mike Ruether C 65 Monte Smith G 67 Doug Widell G Defensive linemen (DL) 92 Alphonso Carreker DE 68 Brad Henke DE/DT 90 Ron Holmes DE 71 Greg Kragen NT 91 Warren Powers DE 61 Andre Townsend

Linebackers (LB) 56 Michael Brooks OLB 58 Scott Curtis ILB 55 Rick Dennison ILB 73 Simon Fletcher OLB 97 Bruce Klosterman OLB 59 Tim Lucas OLB 77 Karl Mecklenburg ILB 51 Marc Munford ILB Defensive backs (DB) 27 Steve Atwater FS 34 Tyrone Braxton CB 29 Darren Carrington CB 25 Kip Corrington FS 36 Mark Haynes CB 24 Wymon Henderson CB 48 Randy Robbins SS 49 Dennis Smith SS Special teams (ST)  2 Mike Horan P  9 David Treadwell K

Practice squad 86 Paul Green TE 69 Darrell Hamilton T 19 Pat Hegarty QB 78 Jeff Mickel T 52 Ron Sancho LB 47 active, 4 inactive, 5 practice squad Reserve 64 Billy Bryan C (IR) 96 Jake McCullough DE (IR) 74 Andrew Provence DT (IR) 94 Randy Thornton LB (IR) Rookies in italics

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Regular season

One of Denver's new major additions was rookie running back Bobby Humphrey, who rushed for 1,151 yards, caught 22 passes for 156 yards, and scored 8 touchdowns. Humphrey gave the Broncos a powerful running attack that they lacked in their previous Super Bowl seasons. The defense had a new weapon as well: rookie free safety Steve Atwater. Together with veteran defensive backs Dennis Smith, Wymon Henderson and Tyrone Braxton, the Broncos secondary combined for 14 interceptions. Braxton lead the team with 6, which he returned for 103 yards and a touchdown, while also recovering 2 fumbles. Another new addition was defensive end Ron Holmes, who recorded 9 sacks. Holmes, along with veteran linebackers Karl Mecklenburg (7.5 sacks and 4 fumble recoveries) and Simon Fletcher (12 sacks) gave Denver one of the top defensive lines in the AFC.

Veteran receiver Vance Johnson had the best season of his career, catching 76 passes for 1,095 yards and 7 touchdowns, while also returning 12 punts for 118 yards. However, quarterback John Elway played inconsistently during the regular season, throwing just as many interceptions as touchdowns (18) and recording only a 73.7 passer rating.

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance	Recap
1	September 10	Kansas City Chiefs	W 34–20	1–0	Mile High Stadium	74,284	Recap
2	September 18	at Buffalo Bills	W 28–14	2–0	Rich Stadium	78,176	Recap
3	September 24	Los Angeles Raiders	W 31–21	3–0	Mile High Stadium	75,754	Recap
4	October 1	at Cleveland Browns	L 13–16	3–1	Cleveland Municipal Stadium	78,637	Recap
5	October 8	San Diego Chargers	W 16–10	4–1	Mile High Stadium	75,222	Recap
6	October 15	Indianapolis Colts	W 14–3	5–1	Mile High Stadium	74,680	Recap
7	October 22	at Seattle Seahawks	W 24–21 (OT)	6–1	Kingdome	62,353	Recap
8	October 29	Philadelphia Eagles	L 24–28	6–2	Mile High Stadium	75,065	Recap
9	November 5	Pittsburgh Steelers	W 34–7	7–2	Mile High Stadium	74,739	Recap
10	November 12	at Kansas City Chiefs	W 16–13	8–2	Arrowhead Stadium	76,245	Recap
11	November 20	at Washington Redskins	W 14–10	9–2	RFK Stadium	52,975	Recap
12	November 26	Seattle Seahawks	W 41–14	10–2	Mile High Stadium	75,117	Recap
13	December 3	at Los Angeles Raiders	L 13–16 (OT)	10–3	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum	87,560	Recap
14	December 10	New York Giants	L 7–14	10–4	Mile High Stadium	63,283	Recap
15	December 16	at Phoenix Cardinals	W 37–0	11–4	Sun Devil Stadium	56,071	Recap
16	December 24	at San Diego Chargers	L 16–19	11–5	Jack Murphy Stadium	50,524	Recap

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 2

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
• Broncos	5	13	3	7	28
Bills	0	0	7	7	14

• Date: September 18
• Location: Rich Stadium, Orchard Park, New York
• Game start: 9:00 p.m. EST
• Game attendance: 78,176
• Game weather: 57 °F (14 °C); wind 5 mph (8.0 km/h)
• Referee: Bob McElwee
• TV announcers (ABC): Al Michaels, Frank Gifford, and Dan Dierdorf

Scoring summary

Q1		DEN	Mueller tackled by Brooks in end zone	DEN 2–0
Q1		DEN	Treadwell 22 yard field goal	DEN 5–0
Q2		DEN	Treadwell 33 yard field goal	DEN 8–0
Q2		DEN	Johnson 19 yard pass from Elway (Treadwell kick)	DEN 15–0
Q2		DEN	Treadwell 46 yard field goal	DEN 18–0
Q3		DEN	Treadwell 24 yard field goal	DEN 21–0
Q3		BUF	Kinnebrew 1 yard run (Norwood kick)	DEN 21–7
Q4		BUF	Harmon 20 yard pass from Kelly (Norwood kick)	DEN 21–14
Q4		DEN	Humphrey 5 yard run (Treadwell kick)	DEN 28–14

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Week 3

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Raiders	0	0	7	14	21
• Broncos	21	7	0	3	31

• Date: September 24
• Location: Mile High Stadium, Denver, Colorado
• Game start: 2:00 p.m. MST
• Game weather: 62 °F (17 °C), wind 11 mph (18 km/h)
• Referee: Jerry Markbreit
• TV announcers (NBC): Dick Enberg and Bill Walsh

Scoring summary

1		DEN	John Elway 29 yard run (David Treadwell kick)	Broncos 7–0
1		DEN	Jeff Alexander 1 yard run (David Treadwell kick)	Broncos 14–0
1		DEN	Mark Jackson 46 yard pass from John Elway (David Treadwell kick)	Broncos 21–0
2		DEN	Mark Jackson 11 yard pass from John Elway (David Treadwell kick)	Broncos 28–0
3		LA	Lionel Washington 22 yard interception return (Jeff Jaeger kick)	Broncos 28–7
4		LA	Mervyn Fernandez 75 yard pass from Jay Schroeder (Jeff Jaeger kick)	Broncos 28–14
4		LA	Linden King 15 yard fumble return (Jeff Jaeger kick)	Broncos 28–21
4		DEN	David Treadwell 38 yard field goal	Broncos 31–21

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Playoffs

See also: 1989–90 NFL playoffs

Round	Date	Opponent (seed)	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance	Recap
Divisional	January 7, 1990	Pittsburgh Steelers (5)	W 24–23	1–0	Mile High Stadium	75,868	Recap
AFC Championship	January 14, 1990	Cleveland Browns (2)	W 37–21	2–0	Mile High Stadium	76,005	Recap
Super Bowl XXIV	January 28, 1990	San Francisco 49ers (N1)	L 10–55	2–1	Louisiana Superdome	72,919	Recap

Standings

AFC West
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Denver Broncos(1)	11	5	0	.688	6–2	9–3	362	226	L1
Kansas City Chiefs	8	7	1	.531	3–5	6–7–1	307	286	W1
Los Angeles Raiders	8	8	0	.500	3–5	6–6	315	297	L2
Seattle Seahawks	7	9	0	.438	4–4	7–5	241	327	L1
San Diego Chargers	6	10	0	.375	4–4	4–8	266	290	W2

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