final season for running back Floyd Little. Otis Armstrong took his place, and despite finishing 9–5 in 1976, the playoffs still eluded them. Broncomania and the first Super Bowl appearance Rookie coach Red Miller, along with the Orange Crush Defense (a nickname originating in the early 1970s) and aging quarterback Craig Morton, led the Broncos to a miracle season in 1977. The team won the division with a 12–2 record, beating an injury-plagued Steelers team 34–21. In the conference championship, they faced their division rival and defending Super Bowl champion Raiders, winning a close game 20–17 and sending them to Super Bowl XII. Facing the Cowboys in the New Orleans Superdome, the Broncos played sloppily the entire game, turning the ball over eight times. They were crushed 27–10 by the Cowboys. Despite the disappointing loss to Dallas, their season catapulted the franchise out of the basement and they since have enjoyed four decades of consistency that few teams have matched. The successful season also brought the phenomena of "Broncomania" to a fever pitch, with the team the talk of the town, selling 65,000 Super Bowl T-shirts in 48 hours. Earlier that year, superfan Tim McKernan, better known as the Barrel Man, began wearing only an orange-colored aluminum barrel, boots and a cowboy hat to games, a ritual he repeated for 30 years. The 1978 season saw the Broncos finish 10–6 (the season having been extended to 16 games) and win the division again, but they were routed out of the playoffs by the Steelers 33–10. Another 10–6 season and a playoff appearance followed in 1979, but three division losses reduced the Broncos to a wild card team. They lost to the Oilers 13–7 in the Astrodome. The Early 1980s/The John Elway years 1980–1982 The Broncos lost a step to begin the 1980s, finishing with a middling 8–8 record in 1980. Dan Reeves was named the new Bronco head coach in 1981. That same year, American/Canadian financier Edgar Kaiser, Jr. purchased the Broncos from the Gerald Phipps family. The team did post a two-game improvement, but after winning their first five out of six games to start the season, the team went 5-5 the rest of the way, and their 10–6 mark was not enough for a playoff berth. The 1982 season would be shortened due to a player's strike, and the Broncos struggled mightily, finishing with their worst season record