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You just can’t help it as a sports fan. It’s not enough for us to watch the games, follow the trades, free-agent signings, or get overly invested in the future of teenagers on draft night. We don’t just live to tell the tales of what happened. No, spinning the yarn of what could have been goes hand in hand with the lived experiences of every sports fan.
Sure, this team lost that one game, but what if they hadn’t? Can you imagine if my team hadn’t gotten such lousy lottery luck that one year? What would my world look like if that one key player hadn’t gotten injured? Everything would be different!
And that’s the ambitious project we here at DNVR decided to embark upon for this year’s Rank Week. We’ve done the best athletes and most memorable games, but those are easy enough. We saw those happen. What about the alternate universes that we all think about but didn’t get to live in?
Colorado sports fans, we give you the top “What If?” moments in Colorado sports history.
(This list will be updated throughout the week with “What If’s” #1 and #2 released Friday.)
10. What if John Elway doesn’t retire following Super Bowl XXXIII
There have been some valiant attempts at the vaunted “three-peat” in NFL history, but no team has ever won three consecutive Super Bowls. Back when John Elway was quarterbacking Denver Broncos and was joined in the backfield by Terrell Davis, they won Super Bowls 32 and 33. There was a genuine belief that Mike Shanahan could coach the Hall of Fame 1-2 punch to a third Super Bowl.
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While there was a lot of talk leading up to Super Bowl 33 between the Broncos and Atlanta Falcons that it would be Elway’s final game, Elway himself wasn’t quite sure. When he eventually won Super Bowl MVP after going 18-for-29 and throwing for 336 yards, including an 80-yard touchdown to Rod Smith, the conversation was about what special run it was for Elway and the Broncos. The hard-luck loser early in his career was going out on top after winning consecutive championships.
What if he didn’t? The Broncos still had Davis, who had won the regular season MVP after eclipsing the rarified air of the 2,000-yard club, and was one of the game’s premier backs. Shanahan’s brilliance on the headset was just beginning and Elway was the guy to bring it all together. Without Elway, the Broncos went with second-year pro Brian Griese behind center and it was his ill-advised throw that resulted in the devastating knee injury that derailed Davis’s career.
If Elway stays, does Davis ever get hurt? Does he continue to dominate with Elway only having to serve as a high-level counterpart and not the main player? Certainly, the Broncos would have done better than the 6-10 record they managed but it isn’t hard to envision Elway and a healthy Davis bringing that team to the mountaintop for a third time, cementing itself as the truest dynasty in league history.
-AJ Haefele
9. What if Matt Holliday is called out in Game 163 in 2007
Back in a time when replay review was still a foreign concept, destined for a distant future of pitch clocks and pitch comms, the play at the plate with Matt Holliday was decided solely by the naked eye of home plate umpire Tim McClelland. It remains one of the bigger in-game controversies in baseball, and for good reason.
The Rockies aren’t a franchise known for deep-rooted history. As a franchise celebrating its 30th birthday in 2025, you could make the argument that by 2007, the organization had yet to find its defining moment. The team made the playoffs back in 1995, but that celebration was short-lived after getting bounced in the divisional round by the Braves.
The Rockies wouldn’t grace the playoffs again until that day in 2007 when Matt Holliday did (or did not) touch home. But I’m not here to debate whether or not Holliday was safe or out. I’m here to talk about the impact that single play made on the franchise we see today.
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READ: What if Matt Holliday was called out at home? -Christian Saez
8. What if Jamal Murray didn’t tear his ACL?
At the 2021 NBA trade deadline, the Nuggets landed THE perfect fit at power forward next to Nikola Jokic: Aaron Gordon. Denver won 7-straight games after acquiring Gordon from Orlando and looked like true championship contenders for the first time in the Jokic era.
But on April 12, 2022 in the fourth quarter of a loss to the Warriors, Jamal Murray drove down the lane, planted on his left leg, and then crumbled to the floor. It was a torn ACL. Murray didn’t just miss the upcoming playoffs where the Nuggets still beat the Trail Blazers in Round 1 before getting swept by the Suns in Round 2. He also missed the postseason the following year.
It was two unexpected gap years right in the middle of Nikola Jokic’s prime. Jokic won his first two MVP’s in 2021 and 2022 — the two playoffs that Murray missed due to the ACL. The Nuggets roster in both those season would have been championship quality with Murray, but without him, the Nuggets were just another playoff team.
If Murray had stayed healthy, it’s not hard to envision the Nuggets winning two championships in this current era. Maybe even three.
–Harrison Wind
7. What if Rahim Moore doesn’t Rahim Moore?
On third down, Flacco dropped back again. Robert Ayers spun through the middle of the line, forcing Flacco to step up. Flacco used his momentum to heave a deep ball up the right sideline.
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The receiver was covered. Moore, was playing deep and had an angle to knock the pass away.
But he didn’t.
Instead, Moore took too steep of a route as he tried to undercut the throw. He jumped but the ball flew over his head. Jacoby Jones caught it and ran the final 20 yards into the end zone. The game was tied. An hour later, Justin Tucker would make the walk-off, game-winning field goal to send the Ravens to the AFC Championship Game.
And the Broncos would head back to their locker room for the final time that season.
“I’m taking the blame for it. Hey, I lost the game for us. It is what it is,” Moore told the Denver Post’s Mark Kiszla. “I misjudged it, man.”
What if Moore hadn’t misjudged the pass?
READ: What if Rahim Moore had made the play? -Henry Chisholm
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6. What if Joe Sakic went to the New York Rangers?
When the Quebec Nordiques moved to Denver, they were already captained by a young superstar who was in his prime in 26-year-old Joe Sakic. The first captain of the Avalanche exploded onto the scene in Colorado’s first year, scoring 51 goals and 120 points as he led the Avs to the first major pro sports championship in Denver’s history.
Already on a Hall of Fame track, Sakic hit restricted free agency in the summer of 1997. That’s when the New York Rangers and their deep pockets came calling. They signed Sakic to a three-year, $21 million deal. The contract was front-loaded with a $15M “poison pill” that would have made it very hard for the Avs to match. Colorado had seven days, and the story of how they got it done was made into a documentary that is wildly entertaining if you’re interested.
We’re here asking the hard question: What if “Air Force One” was a flop and the Avs couldn’t keep Sakic? What if the Rangers successfully replaced Mark Messier with Sakic, leaving the Avalanche without a captain?
The Avs wouldn’t have been without star power as Peter Forsberg, Patrick Roy, and Adam Foote were still around, but you obviously don’t lose a player (and person) of Sakic’s caliber and keep on truckin’.
The story around the organization is that Sakic simply wasn’t going anywhere. They would have moved heaven and earth to keep him, so this “What if?” is as much about what the Avs would have needed to do in order to keep him. The cost would have been significant. Claude Lemieux? Gone. Valeri Kamensky, Adam Deadmarsh, Sandis Ozolinsh, Keith Jones? All would have been in serious peril.
Had Sakic actually been allowed to leave? The Avalanche, frankly, may not have stayed in Colorado. They were having serious financial problems as it was and losing a superstar of Sakic’s caliber just two years into their Denver tenure might have spelled the end of the team in Colorado.
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Let’s assume the Avs weathered that storm (avalanche?) and stayed in Colorado. What might have been with the Avs could have mirrored what has happened with the Rangers since their ill-fated offer sheet was matched. Sakic has haunted the Rangers…basically forever. That could have been Colorado’s fate.
Yikes. Big yikes.
-AJ Haefele
5. What if Peyton Manning didn’t sign with the Denver Broncos?
Remember that world where Tim Tebow was the lightning rod of a quarterback who couldn’t play for three quarters and then turned into a demigod in the fourth quarter and shocked the world with his penchant for clutch play late in games?
And remember how fun that one playoff run was, culminating in Tebow connecting with Demaryius Thomas for an 80-yard touchdown to open (and close) overtime of the first round of the NFL Playoffs against the Pittsburgh Steelers? Remember all of those things?
Tebow’s time in Denver came to a screeching halt when Peyton Manning was brought to Denver. Manning was cut loose by the Indianapolis Colts amid uncertainty over his ability to continue to play following three neck surgeries in 19 months and, without him, the Colts sank to the bottom of the NFL standings where they were rewarded with the number one overall pick in the NFL Draft, which they used on Stanford QB Andrew Luck.
Considered an elite prospect, the Colts couldn’t pass up the chance to turn the franchise keys over to Luck and they moved on from Manning. Suddenly in free agency, Manning chose the Broncos over a slew of suitors, including the Miami Dolphins, Arizona Cardinals, and Tennessee Titans. Manning’s addition led to the Broncos jettisoning Tebow to quarterback purgatory, the New York Jets, where he quickly flamed out.
What if Manning had chosen the Titans?
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Not only would a different AFC team have gotten a motivated Hall of Fame quarterback to fuel their franchise, but the Broncos would have potentially stayed the course with Tebow. Now, that wouldn’t have magically made Tebow an accurate quarterback, but there was just always something about Tebow that was fascinating to watch, especially late in games.
Of course, it helped to have an excellent defense that kept the games close while Tebow spent three quarters floundering, but this became a “butterfly effect” moment in NFL history. Manning went on to set an NFL record for passing TDs in a season, led the Broncos to two Super Bowl appearances (one victory and one game we don’t talk about), and gave the Broncos another golden era to bask in before following John Elway’s lead and riding off into the sunset, Vince Lombardi Trophy in hand.
Without him, Tebow probably flames out (seriously, he just couldn’t consistently throw) and the Broncos would have gotten on the QB carousel they found themselves on post-Manning retirement. If you’re curious (that’s what this entire experiment is about, after all), the top QB available in the 2013 NFL Draft was EJ Manuel, who was drafted 16th overall by the Buffalo Bills, so it’s not like the Broncos would have had an easy shot at a top QB immediately had Manning never come.
We just wouldn’t have had the special moments we got with him and all of those Denver-based Papa John’s franchises would be owned by someone else.
-AJ Haefele
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