Broncos LB Alex Singleton on Chiefs' SB Appearance: 'It Pisses Us Off'
With the Kansas City Chiefs set to square off in a rematch with the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII, the Denver Broncos are eating their hearts out. Head coach Sean Payton said last year ahead of yet another Chiefs Super Bowl, "We never want anyone in our division to win anything."
Cut to this year's Super Bowl, and Broncos veterans like linebacker Alex Singleton are feeling even saltier about the Chiefs because he knows his team can beat them.
"I think this weekend pisses off a lot of us, knowing that the Chiefs made it this far," Singleton told Sydney Jones of the team website in an appearance on Radio Row. "We know that we can beat them, so it's kind of like that, 'Alright, let's use this now as motivation for the offseason and see where it goes.'"
The Broncos have every reason to be even more motivated this offseason despite the perplexing questions that remain unanswered. Under Payton, the Broncos improved their win total by three in the standings last season, although the team failed to make the playoffs for the eighth straight year.
However, one big door unlocked for the Broncos with Payton at the helm, according to Singleton, and that's the elusive, dearly-bought lesson of learning how to win.
"I think learning how to win," Singleton told Jones when asked where the Broncos made their biggest improvement in 2023. "I think that was something—it's hard to do in the NFL, to win football games. A lot of times, you just play football games—not just play football games, but they're hard to win. Those one or two plays that you have to make, you have to know when to make those. And I think we found ways to do that this year and know how to do that. So to take that now into this offseason."
That was definitely a skill the Broncos seemed to suddenly have developed smack-dab in the middle of the season. On an individual level, they say that some players are born with the 'clutch gene,' but it is a trait that can actually be learned on the team scale. The key is coaching.
During the Broncos' six-game winning streak, the team displayed an uncanny knack for making the big-time play when the chips were down, on both sides of the ball. That was something that Payton's coaching staff definitely helped suss out of a Broncos squad that had heretofore seemed powerless to make such plays in the clutch.
Singleton was one of those playmakers, finishing with a ridiculous 177 combined tackles (106 solo), two sacks, and two fumble recoveries. He garnered some Pro Bowl buzz, though not enough to actually get selected.
But Singleton has been around long enough to know how razor-thin the margins for error are in the NFL, and also how fleeting a winning streak can be. He's obviously motivated to rejoin his teammates this coming spring to build on the Broncos' marked improvements from last year, especially after vanquishing four playoff teams.
"I think it's taking what we learned from this year and using it," Singleton told Jones. "I'm not letting it go. I think a lot of people just wanted us to win right away because Sean Payton was here and Vance [Joseph] coming back and all that stuff, but it's hard to win with new coaches. I mean, around the league, you saw a lot of first-year guys get fired again, so for us, it's to go into Year 2 and just continue to get better. I think if you're getting better every day, you're moving in the right direction and I think we were able to do that last year."
In Payton's first year with the New Orleans Saints back in 2006, he improved the team's win total by seven, making the playoffs, and driving all the way to the NFC title game. That instant success was followed by two years of missing the postseason in New Orleans before the Saints stormed back in 2009 to win the Super Bowl.
Payton knows how the sausage gets made in the NFL. Although the Broncos showed last year they still had a ways to go to become a contender, Payton's impact made them competitively relevant, and that ignominious losing streak to the Chiefs was finally snapped.
The Broncos have to solve multiple big issues this offseason, including likely finding a new starting quarterback and becoming salary-cap-compliant, all while filling the roster holes that persist. It won't be easy. But armed with the epiphanies of 2023, the Broncos players clearly believe they're no longer an AFC West doormat.
Currently, the Broncos are tied with two teams for the most Super Bowl championships in the AFC West. The Broncos have three Lombardi Trophies, as do the Chiefs and the Las Vegas Raiders.
A Chiefs win over the Niners would see Kansas City leap ahead into sole possession of that bragging right in the division. This cannot be countenanced by the Broncos. Even more motivation for 2024 if it happens.
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