Five reasons the Denver Broncos will win Super Bowl 50

Despite the circus at quarterback, the Denver Broncos are well-equipped to win Super Bowl 50.

During the middle of this past regular season, the AFC looked like it was the Patriots’ to lose. The Bengals and the Broncos had also started out with impressive records, but given Cincinnati’s well-documented struggles in the postseason and Peyton Manning’s swelling stack of interceptions, the road clearly looked like it was going to run through Foxboro once again.

Not so.

The litany of injuries finally caught up to New England at the end of the season, and the Patriots limped their way to a No. 2 finish in the conference, while Denver did the unthinkable in Week 17: they replaced Brock Osweiler with Manning mid-game, just days after head coach Gary Kubiak had declared Osweiler the starter moving forward.

While Osweiler’s play alone didn’t necessarily warrant the change, the Broncos’ play overall as an offense most certainly did. After committing four turnovers in just the first half against the woeful Chargers at home in Week 17, Kubiak inserted Manning to provide a spark.

It worked. San Diego seemed just as surprised by the switch as the TV announcers and the fans, and the Broncos came away with home field advantage and the AFC’s top overall seed for the playoffs.

But will it be enough to win the Super Bowl? Here are five reasons why the Broncos could hoist the Lombardi Trophy in a month.

Next: 5. Dominant, balanced defense