The Carolina Panthers were the favorites to win the Super Bowl, but as they say, defense wins championships in all sports.

And hey, the Panthers had a pretty good one, and they had a better offense lead by the MVP Cam Newton, but the Broncos defense is just on another level when we break it down.

The Broncos defense forced four turnovers, which included two fumbles and one interception by Newton, Peyton Manning took better care of the ball in the game, only throwing one interception. A fumble recovery in the end zone by Malik Jackson put the Broncos up 10-0. A Brandon McManus field goal to make it 13-7 ended up winning the game.

The Broncos ended up putting up 24 points in the end after a touchdown run by C.J. Anderson that was followed by a Peyton Manning two point conversion pass to Bennie Fowler.

Manning of course didn’t play his best game, but Broncos linebacker Von Miller did. He was voted Super Bowl MVP after sacking Newton 2.5 times, recording two tackles and one passing deflection. One of the best games of his career.

“This game was much like this season has been, testing our toughness, our resiliency, our unselfishness,” Miller said. “It’s only fitting that it turned out that way.”

This is the 3rd time in Broncos franchise history that the Broncos have been Super Bowl champions, and the first time since 1999 when now Broncos president John Elway was the team’s quarterback. This leaves a great opportunity for Manning to walk away out as a winner. He was asked if Super Bowl 50 would be the last of him shortly after the game:

“I’ll take some time to reflect,” Manning said. “I got a couple priorities first. I’m going to go kiss my wife and my kids. … I’m going to drink a lot of Budweiser tonight. Take care of those things first.”

Manning became the first quarterback to win a Super Bowl with two separate teams, and when the Broncos got shelled in Super Bowl 48 43-8 by the Seahawks many questioned whether or not he would comeback from that. He came back, and while he wasn’t better than ever, he is coming out of 50 a winner.

Cam Newton on the other hand, was of course un-happy with the result:

“[We] got outplayed”, Newton said.

That quote by Newton above was apart of a press conference in which Newton gave a few words response to each question before leaving the conference. He was 18-41 in the Super Bowl for 265 yards while being pressured on almost half of his drop backs.

The Panthers finished the season 15-1 of course, so the odds were against them in terms of winning the Super Bowl with that record. Only the 1984 49ers and the 1985 Bears have won the Super Bowl with that such record. The Panthers join the 1998 Vikings, the 2004 Steelers, and the 2011 Packers as the teams to lose the Super Bowl with a 15-1 record.