How the Broncos helped decide Super Bowl XLIV

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DENVER - The headline seems a little absurd considering the Denver Broncos haven't made the playoffs in four years, much less the Super Bowl. Their last appearance in the last game of the season was 12 years ago.

However, one moment in a fairly innocuous game in 2005 changed the fortunes of the San Diego Chargers, Denver Broncos, and yes----the Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints.

On December 31, 2005, Brees, then the quarterback of the San Diego Chargers was facing the Denver Broncos. In the first half, he dropped back to pass and was hit on a blitz by safety John Lynch. He lost the football. In his subsequent effort to recover the ball, he was landed on by 320 pound Broncos defensive tackle Gerard Warren. The bulk of Warren's weight fell on Brees' shoulder; his throwing shoulder----the worst place a quarterback can be hit.

He was 27-years-old and on the brink of a contract extension. Instead, he was 27, the owner of a shredded shoulder, and what many thought was the end of his career, not only in San Diego but anywhere in the NFL.

The Broncos would go onto finish that season at 13-3 and the future looked bright. Brees ended his season without a future in sight. Safe to say, those two assumptions, like much prognostications in the world of sports, proved to be wrong.

When Brees had his shoulder checked, doctors told him "he had a 25 percent chance of ever playing again". Though, Brees called hearing that "a defining moment in my life."

Like many athletes who were facing surgery of the highest magnitude, he went to one place-----Birmingham, Alabama. The southern city is home to the world renowned Dr. James Andrews, whose list of clients include Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Mark Sanchez, Roger Clemens, and John Smoltz.

So five days after enduring the worst injury of his career, Brees was in Birmingham. Andrews diagnosed subluxation erecti. In clinical terminology, a dislocation when the arm is extended upward and pops out of the bottom of the shoulder joint.

His labrum had a 360 degree tear. If surgery was not performed within two hours, swelling would ensue, causing even further complications.

The surgery commenced and by the looks of his performance on Super Bowl Sunday, Dr. Andrews may want to ask for a Super Bowl ring himself. After all, he made it possible for the game's MVP to actually be out there.

It is interesting to note that after the surgery, the lingering effects were enough to scare most teams from even considering signing Brees as a free agent. Except one. The New Orleans Saints.

The Dolphins actually opted to sign Daunte Culpepper over Brees. Safe to say, yesterday, in the very stadium that the Dolphins play, Brees made them regret that choice.

Sunday was simply a great ending for a great player who lifted an entire city. Though, if it wasn't for the Broncos, one of the greatest comeback stories in all of sports may never have been authored.