The Denver Broncos moved into 3rd place in the AFC West with their win and the Chargers loss. How does the rest of the division look?
Sunday’s Denver Broncos shutout win over the Tennessee Titans brought more than just another win to the Broncos.
With the Pittsburgh Steelers prevailing over the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday Night Football, The Broncos moved into a tie with the Chargers for 3rd place in the AFC West. With the Broncos’ victory over the Chargers in Week 5, the Broncos have the tie-breaker and are now in 3rd place.
It may not seem like much, but not too bad for the Broncos who were previously sitting at 0-4 and in sole possession of last place just two weeks ago.
Here is how the AFC West looks as of Monday (10/14):
AFC West Standings W L T Pct
Kansas City Chiefs 4 2 0 .667
Oakland Raiders 3 2 0 .600
Denver Broncos 2 4 0 .333
Los Angeles Chargers 2 4 0 .333
As previously stated, the Broncos have the tiebreaker over the Los Angeles Chargers due to their victory over the Chargers in Week 5.
As of today, the Chiefs are 1-0 against the AFC West, the Raiders are 1-1, the Broncos 1-1 and the Chargers 0-1.
The next AFC West matchup is this Thursday when the Kansas City Chiefs come to Denver to take on the Broncos on Thursday Night Football. If the Broncos were to upset the Chiefs, it could throw a major wrench in how the AFC West will look going forward.
If the Broncos were to beat the Chiefs on Thursday night, and if the Oakland Raiders were to lose to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, the Broncos would move into a tie-breaker with the Raiders for 2nd place. However, because the Raiders defeated the Broncos in Week 1, the Raiders would own that tie-breaker.
While there is still much of the season to go, and while the Broncos will need to be well above .500 if they want a chance at winning the division or getting a wild-card spot, there is a glimmer of hope in Broncos Country. It was huge for the Broncos to get their first win against a divisional opponent on the road, and they are trending in the right direction.
Going forward, the AFC West as a whole have difficult schedules coming up, with the brunt of divisional games for 3-of-4 AFC West teams coming at the middle to end of the season.
It is unclear how each team will perform going forward. However, if the Broncos can keep winning, there is a good chance that they can keep pace with the rest of the division. This division may be one of the more competitive in the NFL, and it would not be surprising if two of the West teams get into the playoffs.
If the Broncos can keep up, hope is not lost to be one of those teams.
How does the rest of the West look as of right now? Let’s take a look.