The Denver Broncos have some of the most loyal and rowdy fans of any NFL team. Games played on the road against the Broncos at Mile High Stadium have always been looked at as some of the tougher contests to win. Quarterback John Elway put the team on the map and remains a fan favorite to this day. Here are seven things you don’t know about the Denver Broncos.

1. Though the Broncos’ first season in the league was 1960, they would not experience their first winning year until 1973.

2. The Denver Broncos were the only original AFL team to have not played in an AFL Championship Game.

3. The original Broncos uniforms included mustard yellow jerseys, brown pants, and verticaly striped socks. These were so hated by fans that two years later when the team changed their uniforms there was a public bonfire featuring the burning of the socks.

4. The first two former Denver Broncos to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame were more closely associated with other franchises; Willie Brown with the Raiders and Tony Dorsett with the Cowboys.

5. The original starting quarterback for the Broncos in their first year of play in 1960 was Frank Tripucka. Tripucka had an interesting career in that before playing for the Broncos he had pro football head coaching experience in the Canadian Football League.

6. In the Broncos first twenty one years in pro football they went through eight different head coaches, in the twenty eight seasons from 1981-2008 they only went through three.

7. In a 1983 game against the Seattle Seahawks, legendary Broncos linebacker Randy Gradishar had one of the statistically best all around games of his career when he recorded an interception, a fumble recover, a sack and a tackle for a loss.

When it comes to teams that began in the AFL and have made the transition to the NFL, few can measure up to the success that the Broncos have had. This is really interesting in the fact that while in the AFL, they were one of the least successful teams in the league. The Broncos strength is in their fans and the stability of their coaching staff, and that shouldn’t be changing any time soon.

One of the most popular football teams in the entire National Football League is the San Francisco 49ers. From the success they found early as an organization in the mid 1940s to their dominant teams of the 1980s and 1990s, the 49ers have not only played in some of the biggest games in league history, they have also had some of the best players in NFL history. A great deal is known about this pro football team, but here are 7 Things You Don’t Know About The San Francisco 49ers:

1. During the strike shortened 1982 NFL season, the San Francisco 49ers finished with a 3-6 record. Interestingly, the team won three of its four road games and lost all five of their home games.

2. The San Francisco 49ers posted double digit victory totals in every season from 1983 through 1998, a total of sixteen seasons.

3. Though the San Francisco 49ers are one of the best teams to ever play in the National Football League, they didn’t originally start out as an NFL team. The organization was a founding member of the All American Football Conference along with fellow future NFL franchise, the Cleveland Browns.

4. During a 1957 game against the Chicago Bears, onetime San Francisco 49ers owner Tony Morabito collapsed and died of a heart attack. The team, after being notified during halftime of their owner’s passing, would rebound from a 17-7 deficit to win the game 21-17.

5. Though thought of as one of the more successful teams in NFL history, the San Francisco 49ers did not win a division title until 1970 and would not win their first NFL Championship until the 1980s. During the decade of the 1980s though, the team would go on to win four Super Bowl titles, cementing itself as one of the greatest teams in league history.

6. The original coach of the San Francisco 49ers, Buck Shaw, coached the team from their inception in 1946 through the 1954 season. During his tenure and even though it was a brand new franchise, Shaw and the 49ers only had one season where there win-loss record was below .500.

7. The 1980s San Francisco 49ers teams were built largely through the successful drafting of college players. In 1979, the team drafted both Joe Montana and Dwight Clark (in the tenth round incidentally). In 1981, the 49ers would add both Ronnie Lott and Eric Wright to their defensive backfield. The 1982 and 1983 NFL Drafts would see Bubba Paris, Roger Craig, Riki Ellison, and Jesse Sapolu added to the team. 1984 would bring Guy McIntyre, Michael Carter, and Jeff Fuller to the team. And after adding future legend Jerry Rice to the team in the 1985 draft, the 49ers would gain the services of Tom Rathman, Tim McKyer, John Taylor, Charles Haley, Steve Wallace, and Don Griffin in the 1986 NFL Draft.

The 49ers popularity remains incredibly high, even in times when the team is not as successful on the field as it once was. With the track record the franchise has, fans always feel that the team is just one or two personnel moves away from rejoining the best teams in the league, a place they feel their team always deserves to be. The San Francisco 49ers truly are one of the best teams in National Football League history.

John Elway is the legendary quarterback of the Denver Broncos that led them to two Super Bowl victories just before retiring and then later entering the Professional Football Hall of Fame. He is one of the most popular players in Denver Broncos history, but here are 7 Things You Don’t Know About: John Elway.

1. John Elway’s last game of college football is famous for a reason completely unrelated to him. His last game was the now famous Cal-Stanford game in which the Cal Bears returned the final kickoff of the game, with the help of five laterals, for the winning touchdown.

2. John and Janet Elway have four children and their names also start with the letter “J”. Their names are Jessica, Jordan and Juliana, and Jack.

3. In his one season of minor league baseball in 1982, John Elway batted .318 and led the team in RBI.

4. At the age of 38, John Elway became the oldest player to score a touchdown in a Super Bowl.

5. There are two number sevens that have been inducted into the Denver Broncos Ring of Fame, John Elway and also the quarterback that preceded him, Craig Morton.

6. During his son’s senior year of high school, John Elway served as his and his team’s quarterback coach.

7. John Elway was the number one overall pick in the 1983 NFL Draft by the Baltimore Colts who later famously traded him to the Broncos after he threatened not to play for them. The players he was traded for were Quarterback Mark Herrmann, Offensive Lineman Chris Hinton, and a first round draft pick that ended up being Offensive Lineman Ron Solt.

John Elway will go down in history as one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. He will be remembered fondly, and not just in Denver, as football fans in many cities took a liking to him based on his hard nosed play and successful results.

Monday Night Football is an institution in America. Some of the biggest professional football games and moments have happened on this, the NFL’s biggest regular season stage. But, here are 7 Things You Don’t Know About: Monday Night Football.

1. The first Monday Night Football game happened in 1970 and had the Cleveland Browns defeating the New York Jets.

2. There has only been one tie game in Monday Night Football history, it happened in 1984 and was between the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Giants.

3. The fewest points ever scored in a Monday Night Football game in history happened in 2007 when the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Miami Dolphins by a score of 3-0.

4. The team holding the record for the most shutouts in Monday Night Football history is the Seattle Seahawks who have shutout their opponents five times.

5. The news that John Lennon had been murdered was broken to the nation by Monday Night Football announcer Howard Cosell during a football game in 1980.

6. The first female broadcaster to join the Monday Night Football broadcast team was Lesley Visser who became a sideline reporter in 1998.

7. The first sponsor that Monday Night Football had was Marlboro Cigarettes.

Monday Night Football has recently moved to the ESPN network after a very long run on ABC. Many people questioned the decision to put professional football on television during primetime on a weekday, but the decision really paid off and will continue to do so.