The 2015 Carolina Panthers seemed destined for football immortality . . . until the time to be immortalized finally came. And unfortunately for them, you don’t run that part back in this sport.
Former Denver Bronco and current Buffalo Bills outside linebacker Von Miller recently breached that topic on Monday’s episode of “Pardon My Take.” He told hosts Big Cat and PFT Commenter that when it comes to playoff football, luck may be the deciding factor at times.
“If you go back to the 2015 Super Bowl, when we played the Carolina Panthers—like, if we played those guys 10 times, I don’t see us beating those guys . . . you know, we probably beat those guys twice,” Miller said. “They had one of the most amazing offenses and teams in, you know, in NFL history. Cam Newton, MVP, and Luke Kuechly on defense. So we were able to just scratch one out and win that one. And so, it takes a little bit of luck.”
The 15-1 Panthers stepped into Super Bowl 50 as 5.5-point favorites over Miller’s Broncos. Between Newton’s dominant MVP campaign, the team’s near-perfect record and the pair of playoff routs over the Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals leading into the big game, Carolina was expected to handle business en route to their first Lombardi Trophy.
But, they didn’t. Miller, in his own MVP performance, collected 2.5 sacks and two forced fumbles in leading Denver to a 24-10 upset.
And luckily for the Broncos, all they needed was one of those two projected wins that night.
