The Denver Broncos defeated the Carolina Panthers 24-10 in the golden edition of the worldwide event known as the Super Bowl. Although it was likely the last game of Peyton Manning’s 18-year career, the narrative of the 2015-2016 season will not only be written about the 39-year old quarterback winning his second championship, but also about the dominating defense of the Denver Broncos. After Manning spent an entire career carrying teams on his back, the favor was returned in arguably the most impressive postseason performance by a defense in NFL history.

The No Fly Zone and Co. held opposing quarterbacks to a passer rating of 66.57 throughout the entire postseason. With the highest possible passer rating being 158.3, it is safe to say that the Denver defense was a continual thorn in the sides of their opposing quarterbacks.

The most impressive piece of this statistic might just be the opponents that the Broncos faced on the way to their third championship in franchise history. The Denver defense matched up with Ben Roethlisburger, Tom Brady, and Cam Newton. These prestigious names quarterbacked three of the top four scoring offenses in the entire league, and the Broncos welcomed them with open arms.

The Steelers were ranked fourth in scoring offense this season at 26.4 points per game. The Broncos were able to hold them to 16 points despite a huge performance by Martavis Bryant who caught nine passes for 154 yards receiving. Granted, the Steelers were missing arguably the nation’s best wide receiver in Antonio Brown due to a concussion injury, but nothing should be taken away from what the defense was able to accomplish against the two-time Super Bowl winning quarterback. In a bend but don’t break fashion, the Broncos let Big Ben throw the ball all over the field except into the end zone. The Steelers finished with 339 passing yards, but an early exit to the NFL offseason.

Tom Brady, however, had a full arsenal of weapons at his fingertips. With a healthy Julian Edelman, Rob Gronkowski, and Danny Amendola, New England came into Denver with the third highest scoring offense in the league. New England averaged 29.1 points per game this season, but were held to a mere 18 total points when it was all over. The Broncos defense was able to hold Tom Brady to a 48 percent completion rate, the lowest of his postseason career, and knock him to the ground an astonishing 23 times. With the help of two fourth down conversions on their final drive, the Patriots posted 310 yards passing and one touchdown in their 20-18 loss to the Broncos.

The dabbing Cam Newton and the nation’s number one scoring offense were the Broncos last victim of the postseason. From the get-go, the league’s MVP seemed overwhelmed by Von Miller and the rest of the Broncos pass rush. The defensive performance was highlighted by a Miller strip sack on Newton on the Panthers’ second possession of the game that resulted in a Denver touchdown and all of the momentum. The 26-year old quarterback was not only embarrassed on the field as he only completed 18 of his 41 passes, but off the field too as he left his post-game press conference early.

Before this season, the best defense in recent years has been considered to be the 2000 Baltimore Ravens and 2013 Seattle Seahawks, whom Denver fans remember vividly as both teams ended their Super Bowl aspirations. The 1985 Bears will likely be remembered as the greatest defense ever, but it should be noted that they played in an era that was not nearly as tailored to the offense as the current NFL is.

The 2000 Ravens faced an ignominious amount of mediocre quarterbacks on the way to their Super Bowl championship. While holding their opposing quarterbacks to a mind-boggling 33.71 passer rating for the entire postseason, the competition under center was far from superior. The Ravens steamrolled through the likes of Gus Frerotte, Steve McNair, Rich Gannon/Bobby Hoying, and Kerry Collins. These are not exactly the most prestigious quarterbacks in NFL history.

The 2013 Seattle Seahawks, however, did face some well known quarterbacks. Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints were ranked fourth in the league in scoring offense whole Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos had just broken the record for highest scoring offense in NFL history. Both quarterbacks fell victim to the Legion of Boom. The Saints and the Broncos might have been in a higher tier of scoring offenses, but the 49ers were not. Colin Kaepernick and his teammates were only ranked 24th overall in scoring offense and relied heavily on their defense, much like the Seahawks. On the way to their first Super Bowl championship in franchise history, the Seahawks held their opposing quarterbacks to an abysmal 63.86 passer rating and stamped their names in the history book as one of the most dominating defenses of all time.

The 2000 Ravens and the 2013 Seahawks will forever join the 1985 Bears as one of the greatest defenses of all time, but in no way should the 2015 Broncos be left out of that conversation. If you look at the quarterbacks and prolific offenses that the Broncos faced on their journey through Super Bowl 50, it is easily possible to make an argument for them being the greatest defense to ever walk the face of this earth.

If we can learn one thing from all four of these teams, it is that one should never bet against the nation’s number one ranked defense.

Ever.

NOTE: Passer Rating and ESPN’s QBR are two different statistics. Both have had their own battles with criticism and neither one is said to be better than the other.