McManus, a hero of Broncos’ Super Bowl run, endures postseason nightmare a decade later – Denver Sports
Brandon McManus was a massive reason why the Broncos marched to their third world championship in the 2015 postseason.
A decade later, his misfires were a central reason for the Green Bay Packers’ exit from the playoffs.
The former Broncos kicker missed three kicks — including an extra point — as the Packers collapsed at Soldier Field on Saturday night, blowing a 21-3 halftime lead to fall 31-27 to their arch-rivals to fall in the wild-card round and complete a late-season fade that saw them lose five consecutive games to close the season after starting 9-3-1.
McManus missed wide left from 55 yards to close the first half after the Bears had called a timeout. He hit the initial kick executed just as the Bears called for the stoppage before hooking the rekick wide.
With 6:36 remaining, McManus missed an extra point wide left, a miss that proved costly when the Packers were forced to drive for a touchdown in the game’s final moments when trailing by four points. A game-tying field goal wasn’t an option when the Packers drove to the Green Bay 28-yard line.
Of course, even if the Packers would have had a chance for a field goal in the final seconds, McManus had already logged a miss from the 40s; he pulled a 44-yard attempt wide right with 2:51 remaining.
The lousy night capped a frustrating season for McManus in which he finished 28th in the NFL in field-goal percentage, hitting 80 percent of his attempts. The only time he was lower than that since 2019 — in 2022, when he connected on 77.6 percent of his field-goal tries — Sean Payton released him the following offseason.
All this came 10 years to the month after McManus had a perfect playoff run, going 10-for-10 on field-goal attempts — including two from beyond 50 yards — and hitting all of his extra-point tries as the Broncos defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers, New England Patriots and Carolina Panthers to win Super Bowl 50.
McManus’ perfect postseason in January and February 2016 helped cement his credibility as the Broncos’ kicker after a rough 2014 season that saw Connor Barth relieve him on placekicks in November of that year. That led to a training-camp competition in 2015 which McManus won, starting an eight-year run as the Broncos’ placekicker which ended when Payton released him during OTAs in May 2023.
The Broncos eventually replaced McManus with Wil Lutz, who has hit 89 percent of his field-goal attempts — including 67 percent from 50 yards or greater — since then. Denver signed Lutz to a contract extension in November.
McMANUS’ MISFIRES HELPED CAP A FIVE-WEEK PACKERS MELTDOWN
Green Bay’s troubles began Dec. 14 at Denver. Leading 23-14 against the Broncos, the Packers fell apart in the second half, not only losing the lead but absorbing the season-ending loss of All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons to a torn ACL.
The Broncos blitzed past Chicago with a 20-3 finishing kick for a 34-26 win in a game that had been billed as a possible Super Bowl preview.
In the end, the team’s Week 15 duel turned out to be two trains headed in opposite directions. Denver went on to claim the AFC’s top seed; the Packers never won again.
The clubs will meet again in 2027 at Lambeau Field.
