Denver Broncos have a golden opportunity to take control of the AFC West
By Jordan Lopez
Denver Broncos have an opportunity to regain control of the AFC West on Sunday Night against a divisional rival.
After coming off an impressive win against the Los Angeles Chargers, the Denver Broncos are now above .500 with a record of 6-5. With the Las Vegas Raiders, Chargers, and Broncos all having the same record, the division is still up for grabs.
As a matter of fact, Denver has been flexed into prime-time Sunday Night Football this week because this game at the Kansas City Chiefs is for first place in the AFC West.
For what was the Broncos division for five years straight in 2011-2015, the Chiefs have since then won the division every year since then.
On Sunday night, on the national stage, the Denver Broncos will be number one in the division if they defeat the Chiefs at Arrowhead.
The last time Broncos Country was able to watch a really big game like this one was back in 2016. The game I am referring to is Super Bowl 50. This game has that type of magnitude surrounding it.
The last time Broncos Country got to see a game that mattered on prime time was in years. Truly, this is the first relevant game on SNF for the Broncos since December 25th, 2016. Coincidentally enough, it was at Kansas City too. Hopefully this year the result can be different.
Looking Ahead: The Denver Broncos have a real chance of winning the AFC West with a win on SNF.
It is never good to look ahead if you’re on any team. You always want to focus on what is next. But in this case, we’ll look ahead for just a quick minute.
IF the Denver Broncos can carry their momentum off a great win versus the Chargers and beat the Chiefs on prime time television, not only will they be first place in the division but control their own destiny with some favorable matchups ahead.
With a Broncos win, Denver will be 7-5 with two division wins against the top teams in the division. The last games of the season will be:
- vs. Detroit Lions (Home)
- vs. Cincinnati Bengals (Home)
- vs. Las Vegas Raiders (Away)
- vs. Los Angeles Chargers (Away)
- vs. Kansas City Chiefs (Home)
The schedule looks tough, especially with three more divisional games and against a red-hot Bengals team, but let’s take a deeper look into these games and why the Broncos can control the AFC West.
First and foremost, IF the Broncos beat the Chiefs at KC and then go home to the Lions and lose, then Denver simply does not belong in the playoffs. Anyways, with the Lions at Denver, 8-5 is a reasonable record after that game.
With the Bengals looking really impressive this season, they still have been inconsistent. With losses like the Jets and Bears and winning close games to the Jaguars and Vikings, the Bengals are vulnerable to drop one. With a red-hot Broncos team coming into that week and playing at Mile High, Denver can realistically be 9-5 before going into their divisional stretch of games to end the season.
With that type of momentum during the last three games of the season, the Broncos (hypothetically at this point of the season) will face two divisional rivals that they have beaten, one of those games being at home too. Plus, Denver will have their chance to get revenge on the Raiders on the road.
This is all hypothetically speaking so take this with a grain of salt. It is very achievable for the Denver Broncos but it all starts this week on prime time, Sunday Night Football at Kansas City for first place in the AFC West.