Advertisement

AFC champion Denver Broncos

Feb 4 (Reuters) - Profile of the American Football Conference's Denver Broncos, who will play the National Football Conference's Carolina Panthers in the National Football League's Super Bowl on Feb. 7. - - Established: 1960. The Broncos, operated by the Pat Bowlen Trust, began play as a charter member of the American Football League before joining the NFL as part of the merger in 1970. - - Value: The Broncos franchise is worth $1.94 billion, 11th out of the NFL's 32 franchises, according to Forbes. - - Super Bowl titles (season): 2 (1997, 1998) - - AFC titles (season): 8 (1977, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1997, 1998, 2013, 2015) - - Head coach: Gary Kubiak. Joined the Broncos in early 2015, a little over a year after he was fired during his eighth season with the Houston Texans. Kubiak has been to six Super Bowls, losing three as a player with the Broncos and winning three as an assistant coach with the Broncos and San Francisco 49ers. - - Starting quarterback: Peyton Manning. The record-setting quarterback, who has been plagued by injury and questionable form this season, will turn 40 in March and many expect this to be his final campaign. The future Hall of Famer is 1-2 in Super Bowl appearances and has long faced criticism for his lack of postseason success. - - Leading receiver: Demaryius Thomas. Since Manning joined the Broncos ahead of the 2012 season, Thomas ranks second in the NFL in receiving, behind Pittsburgh's Antonio Brown. In, 2015 he joined Hall of Famers Jerry Rice and Marvin Harrison as the only players in NFL history with four consecutive seasons of at least 90 receptions for at least 1,300 yards. - - Leading rusher: Ronnie Hillman. Together with C.J. Anderson, Hillman has helped form one of the NFL's best running back tandems and the Denver offense revolves heavily around them being able to run the football effectively. - - Previous Super Bowl appearances: After losing their first four trips to the championship game in the 1977, 1986, 1987 and 1989 seasons, the Broncos finally broke through with Super Bowl wins in each of the 1997 and 1998 campaigns. They lost another Super Bowl in the 2013 season. - - 2015 regular season record: 12-4, won the AFC West division Week 1 - vs Baltimore, won 19-13 Week 2 - at Kansas City, won 31-24 Week 3 - at Detroit, won 24-12 Week 4 - vs Minnesota, won 23-20 Week 5 - at Oakland, won 16-10 Week 6 - at Cleveland, won 26-23 (OT) Week 7 - Bye week Week 8 - vs Green Bay, won 29-10 Week 9 - at Indianapolis, lost 27-24 Week 10 - vs Kansas City, lost 29-13 Week 11 - at Chicago, won 17-15 Week 12 - vs New England, won 30-24 (OT) Week 13 - at San Diego, won 17-3 Week 14 - vs Oakland, lost 15-12 Week 15 - at Pittsburgh, lost 34-27 Week 16 - vs Cincinnati, won 20-17 (OT) Week 17 - vs San Diego, won 27-20 - - AFC playoff seeding: 1 Path to the Super Bowl - First round bye; Beat Pittsburgh 23-16 in the divisional round; Beat New England 20-18 for the AFC Championship. (Compiled by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Mark Lamport-Stokes)