1989 Denver Broncos season

1989 Denver Broncos season
Head coach Dan Reeves
General manager John Beake
Owner Pat Bowlen
Home field Mile High Stadium
Results
Record 11–5
Division place 1st AFC West
Playoff finish Won Divisional Playoff (Steelers) 24–23
Won AFC Championship (Browns) 37–21
Lost Super Bowl XXIV (49ers) 10–55

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.

Offseason

NFL draft

Main article: 1989 NFL draft
1989 Denver Broncos draft
Round Pick Player Position College Notes
1 20 Steve Atwater *  Safety Arkansas
      Made roster    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

[1]

Personnel

Staff

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

Head coaches

Offensive coaches

Defensive coaches

Special teams coaches

  • Special Teams – Harold Richardson

Strength and conditioning

  • Strength and Conditioning – Al Miller
  • Assistant Strength and Conditioning – Barney Chavous

Roster

1989 Denver Broncos roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends

Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams


Rookies in italics

[2]

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 Attendance
1 September 10, 1989 Kansas City Chiefs W 34–20
74,284
2 September 18, 1989 at Buffalo Bills W 28–14
78,176
3 September 24, 1989 Los Angeles Raiders W 31–21
75,754
4 October 1, 1989 at Cleveland Browns L 16–13
78,637
5 October 8, 1989 San Diego Chargers W 16–10
75,222
6 October 15, 1989 Indianapolis Colts W 14–3
74,680
7 October 22, 1989 at Seattle Seahawks W 24–21
62,353
8 October 29, 1989 Philadelphia Eagles L 28–24
75,065
9 November 5, 1989 Pittsburgh Steelers W 34–7
74,739
10 November 12, 1989 at Kansas City Chiefs W 16–13
76,245
11 November 20, 1989 at Washington Redskins W 14–10
52,975
12 November 26, 1989 Seattle Seahawks W 41–14
75,117
13 December 3, 1989 at Los Angeles Raiders L 16–13
87,560
14 December 10, 1989 New York Giants L 14–7
63,283
15 December 16, 1989 at Phoenix Cardinals W 37–0
56,071
16 December 24, 1989 at San Diego Chargers L 19–16
50,524

Game summaries

Week 2

1 234Total
Broncos 5 1337 28
Bills 0 077 14

[3]

Week 3

1 234Total
Raiders 0 0714 21
Broncos 21 703 31

[4]

Playoffs

Week Date Opponent Result Attendance
Divisional January 7, 1990 Pittsburgh Steelers W 24–23
75,868
Conference Championship January 14, 1990 Cleveland Browns W 37–21
76,005
Super Bowl January 28, 1990 N San Francisco 49ers L 10-55
72,919

Standings

AFC West
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 6–7–1 318 286 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

[5]

References

  1. "1989 Denver Broncos draftees". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved November 12, 2014.
  2. "1989 Denver Broncos starters and roster". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved November 12, 2014.
  3. Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-Jun-26.
  4. Pro-Football-Reference.com
  5. NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book, Workman Publishing Co, New York, ISBN 0-7611-2480-2, p. 292

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 8/27/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.