Broncos take a chance, and it pays off with Kubiak

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — It's hard to know who took the bigger risk.

Was it the team, the Denver Broncos, who were hiring a coach with recent health problems and a penchant for not maxing out talent?

Or was it the coach, Gary Kubiak, who signed on with a team that had just fired a coach with a winning record because he came short of the only goal that mattered — capturing the Super Bowl?

Turns out, it wasn't such a risk.

The coach, hired by his loyal friend John Elway, changed his ways, in part because he couldn't keep up the pace that caused him to have a mini-stroke while he was coaching the Houston Texans.

The team, now built on defense and nowhere near as dependent on Peyton Manning, is a…