Sunday’s super blowout left Denver fans super bummed, from the opening kickoff to the final whistle, as the Broncos lost by five touchdowns to the Seattle Seahawks.

With 12 minutes left in Super Bowl XLVIII, empty tables began to emerge in the once-packed Jackson’s sports bar in Lower Downtown Denver.

One man hung his head and barely looked up the rest of the game.

Jennifer Smith and her friends paid their tabs and quietly made their way out.

“They didn’t even show up,” she said of her beloved Broncos, who finished 15-4.

Some fans in the bar said earlier they planned to party in the streets after the game but instead walked out with their heads low.

Katelyn Bates and Lacey Amling sat disappointed and baffled. “I felt like the Seahawks were a little young for us to be in this situation,” Bates said.

Of the Broncos, she said, “They didn’t show up today, but we still love them.”

James Burke managed a smile. He said he wouldn’t trade the excitement of the game, despite the 43-8 loss.

“It’s been an insane couple of weeks,” Burke said. “Denver has an excitement to it that you cannot find anywhere else. Once a Bronco, always a Bronco.”

Colorado native Colin Gory had put his faith in Denver quarterback Peyton Manning.

“We’ve got Manning,” he said just before halftime. “There’s nothing like a comeback from Colorado.”

Gory and his friends, however, tossed their heads back as they watched Seattle score again to take a 22-0 halftime lead.

Near the two-minute warning in the first half, several fans stomped down the wide steps out the door.

“This is awful, but we’re a second-half team,” said Colorado native and lifelong Broncos fan Jennifer Andrews. “If you’re a true fan, you know it will be all good.”

A driver on the shuttle on the 16th Street Mall announced the big Seattle lead early in the game, and fans aboard looked astonished.

During halftime some fans ordered more beer, others swayed in long rest room lines and several sang along with Bruno Mars, the intermission performer.

Some fans began to scream and yell at each other, even though they were all wearing orange. Tension grew after the Seahawks scored to open the third quarter.

Across town, about 20 people crowded into a small basement of a home owned by Kevin O’Connor near the University of Denver.

The group was disappointed by early action, but optimism reigned.

O’Connor said there’s no questioning Manning’s preparation. “It is going to be a roller coaster,” he said of the first quarter.

Denver’s celebrity fans were voicing their cheers and frustrations on Twitter.

“I am not breathing,” tweeted Fox News personality Dana Perino, a former Bush White House spokeswoman who grew up in Parker, as the Broncos struggled.

As the Broncos slipped further behind, Perino got political — invoking both presidential wins by Barack Obama.

“It feels like election night 2012!” she tweeted before halftime. Then she followed, “Make that election night 2008!”

Gov. John Hickenlooper was tweeting smack before kickoff. “We brought the real Thunder,” he tweeted about the Broncos’ live mascot. “They brought a Seabird.”

At halftime, he tried to keep hope alive.

“Colorado does not shut down,” Hickenlooper tweeted. “Colorado does not quit. Colorado. Does. Not. Break.”

Not everyone in the Mile High City was hoping for an Orange Crush win, however.

“We’re in enemy territory,” said Seahawks fan Dana Taylor, who was among about 100 Seattle loyalists who gathered at the Lucky Strike Lanes bowling alley on the 16th Street Mall. Most dressed in Seattle’s green and blue colors. Fans rose to their feet and chanted “Seahawks!” before kickoff. “This is the first championship for our generation,” said Meg Johnson, who sat with a group of friends, all from Washington.

Seattle had never won the Super Bowl, with only one other appearance, a 21-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers eight years ago. The Broncos were in their seventh Super Bowl, with wins in the 1997 and 1998 seasons. “It means a lot more to us,” Johnson said. “The Broncos are a great team, but it’s more emotional for any Seahawk fan.”

Dale Schafer, a lifelong Seahawks fan, said it was a long season leading up to the Super Bowl. But it felt like Washington inside Lucky Strike Lanes, Schafer said. “This is the second-best day of my life, beside my wedding day and the birth of my kids,” Schafer said. His daughters, 22-month-old Abigail and 3-year-old Mollie, were dressed in green-and-blue tutus and ringing tiny cowbells with their dad.

Brittany Sarvadi, 22, was surprised when she walked into the Seattle “nest” wearing an orange and blue-sequined Broncos sweater. “Everyone is cheering at the wrong team,” Sarvadi said.

There were few disturbances downtown after the game, and police took a few people into custody.

A large police presence, low temperatures and fans who began leaving bars in the first half contributed to the calm.

A Super Bowl party at West 14th Avenue and Kalamath Street was the scene of a shooting in which one man was wounded multiple times and was in critical condition Sunday night.