Road to the Super Bowl: AFC WEST

It’s really good to see you here Real Bookie, on this episode of Road to The Super Bowl we have the AFC West. Stick around to learn fun facts, let me know in the comments if you already knew them all!

First off is the Denver Broncos!

Known as one of the most beautiful stadiums in all of the National Football League – Empower Field is located at an elevation of 5,280 feet, or 1 mile.

One of the records that the Denver Broncos do not love, but shows off their ability to win consistently, is they share the record for most Super Bowl losses with the New England Patriots. The Broncos currently have five Super Bowl losses.

John Elway certainly has his share of records, as he finished his career with over 51,000 passing yards and 30 touchdowns.

When the Broncos were sold in June of 2022, they went for $4.65B, which was a record for the league. This came after the team was bought in 1984 for $70M.

The Denver Broncos have 7 players and an owner/CEO that are considered Broncos in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. There are 8 other guys that spent some time with the Broncos that are also in the Hall of Fame.

The Denver Broncos are known for their very distinguishing colors. The Broncos sport white, Navy, and orange. The Broncos have two mascots – Thunder II, who is a live horse, and Miles, who is in costume during the games. Fans at the Denver Broncos games have a nickname that many of the rest of the league use. That nickname is Crush.

A fact that is unknown by many throughout football- Gene Mingo was the first professional African American football. The placekicker played with the Broncos from 1960 to 1964.

The Broncos hold the record for the most lopsided Super Bowl ever. The Broncos scored just 10 points and lost by 45 points in 1990.

During Super Bowl XLVIII – Demaryius Thomas tied a Super Bowl record with 13 receptions.

The Kansas City Chiefs, have been around since 1963, have shown a long history of success, and have a storied history as a member of the National Football League. With the St. Louis Rams leaving town, the Chiefs are the only professional football team in the state of Missouri. The Chiefs are one of the few teams that have their stadium, and their training facility is located in the exact same town. Let’s take a look at some history behind the Kansas City Chiefs.

Arrowhead Stadium is commonly referred to as “The Sea of Red”. The official name for the venue is GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. The facility broke ground during the 1968 season, and then it opened up in August of 1972. The stadium has seen three periods of renovations, with the last ones coming in 2010. Arrowhead Stadium hosts nearly 76,500 fans.

The history of the team name “Chiefs” goes way back, and certainly has plenty of controversy around it. The team was named for H. Roe Bartle, who was the mayor of Kansas City back in the early 1960’s. The nickname for the mayor was “Chief,” and he was a major factor in bringing the Dallas Texans to Kansas City back in 1963.

The Kansas City Chiefs are part of 24 Hall of Famers, with 13 of them spending a majority of their career with the Chiefs organization.

The first ever Kansas City Chief player into the Hall of Fame was linebacker Bobby Bell. He was inducted in 1983.

A few of the more modern-time players inducted into the Hall of Fame include cornerback Emmitt Thomas, linebacker Derrick Thomas.

The Kansas City Chiefs are widely known as one of the most loyal fan bases in the National Football League. The Chiefs have the sixth smallest NFL media market, and have the second-highest attendance over that time.

The first ever regular season game for the Chiefs was in 1960, where they took a 21-20 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. The first time the Chiefs played in the playoffs was in 1962, when they won in double overtime over the Houston Oilers.

While we spent a great deal of time talking about Len Dawson, and his accomplishments, he is widely known for his 435 yards passing game against the Broncos in 1963. Finally, Jamaal Charles is the leading rusher in franchise history, as he picked up 7,260 yards on the ground in his career.

The history of the Las Vegas Raiders is pretty short-lived, but if we head back to the total history of the franchise, there is plenty to discuss and celebrate. The Las Vegas Raiders started as the Oakland Raiders back in 1960. The official location history started in Oakland from 1960-1981, followed by Los Angeles from 1982-1994, then back to Oakland from 1995-2019. A trip to Las Vegas started in 2020.

One of the latest big buildings in downtown Las Vegas – is Allegiant Stadium. Home of the Las Vegas Raiders, the construction of the stadium started in 2017, and it was opened for seating in 2020. The Raiders host nearly 65,000 fans in the stadium on normal Sundays, with the ability to expand up to 72,000.

Before we move any further on this – the Las Vegas Raiders do NOT have any Super Bowl titles, but, the Raiders as a franchise have three of them and have been in the game four times. The Raiders have not won a Super Bowl since 1983 and have not played in a Super Bowl since 2002.

The Raiders have 30 players that are part of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. 17 of those players have primary contributions to the Raiders, while the others spent part of their careers there.

The first Raiders player to be inducted to the Hall of Fame was center Jim Otto. Otto played from 1960-1975, and was later inducted in 1980.

The Raiders have four guys that are in the Hall of Fame as nonplayers. Al Davis was the Coach-Owner-Commissioner for 48 seasons. All the way up until 2011. Davis was inducted back in 1992.

The Raiders uniforms when they first started were black and gold with Gothic numbers. The helmets were black with a white stripe and no logo. Now, the Raiders are silver and black, but the design has pretty much remained the same since 1963.

The Raiders are known for the slogan “Just Win Baby,” which came from owner Al Davis. They also are known for “Commitment to Excellent.” The Raider Nation is known as one of the most avid fan bases in all of the National Football League. They are also known as the black hole, and you can typically find them at games early, tailgating and dressing up in face masks and paint.

The Raiders have cheerleaders known as the “Raiderettes” and started back in 1961.

The Los Angeles Chargers are part of the AFC West, along with the Kansas City Chiefs, Las Vegas Raiders, and Denver Broncos. The Chargers have existed since 1959. The Chargers were the Los Angeles Chargers in 1960, then the San Diego Chargers from 1961-2016, before going back to the Los Angeles Chargers in 2017. The Bolts have a long history, but no Super Bowl titles.

SoFi Stadium is one of the most modern venues in all of the National Football League. The Chargers share their facility with the Rams in Los Angeles. SoFi occupies the former site of Hollywood Park Racetrack, near the vicinity of Los Angeles International Airport, and near the Kia Forum. The venue opened in 2020, and was host of Super Bowl LVI in February of 2022. The Rams were the winner of that Super Bowl, making SoFi Stadium the second stadium to see its main tenant win the Super Bowl.

LaDainian Tomlinson had one of the best seasons in the history of the National Football League. The 2006 season saw the running back score 31 touchdowns, with 28 of them on the ground, and he won the league MVP. Tomlinson also has one of the most individual games, with 220 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns in a 2002 game.

The Chargers in 1961 were record-breaking. The team picked off the opponents 49 times in just 14 games. That’s a record for a 14-game season.

In the history of the San Diego and Los Angeles Chargers, they boast 12 names, with 8 of them as primary members of the Chargers. The first name to be inducted into the Hall of Fame from the Chargers was wide receiver, Lance Alworth. #19 played from 1962-1970, and was later inducted in 1978.

The Chargers first winning season came in their first season, 1960. That season they went 10-4. The first win in franchise history came 21-20 over the Dallas Texans. One season later, the Chargers made the postseason, but eventually lost to the Houston Oilers in the final game.

Lance Alworth was the first Charger to be elected to the Hall of Fame; Dan Fouts was the first quarterback in team history to throw for more than 400 yards in a game. That was in 1980, when he finished with 444 yards.

That’s it for this video, thank you so much for making it all the way to the end. Remember to like and subscribe to get our newest videos as soon as they come out.