Denver Broncos final six games of 2022 will be telling
The Denver Broncos have a tough stretch to end their season in 2022 and how they finish could decide their fate.
The schedule for the Denver Broncos and every other team was released a week ago. Since the team finished last in the AFC West, they were given a last-place schedule.
According to this source, the Broncos have the 15th-highest strength of schedule for the 2022 season.
With Russell Wilson at quarterback, it feels like the Broncos are guaranteed a playoff birth for the first time since 2015. We’re still a long way from January, and anything can happen at this point, but unless Wilson suffers a massive injury, we’re going to the playoffs… finally.
That goal does not come without obstacles, however.
The NFL schedule makers have created a Broncos schedule that will have the team face the Kansas City Chiefs twice in December. While Denver is a cold place in December, they’ll still have to travel to Kansas City in Week 17. That’s going to be one difficult game.
The Chiefs have been Super Bowl contenders ever since Patrick Mahomes became the starting quarterback. He has brought the Chiefs to two Super Bowls, winning one in such a short time.
As long as Mahomes and Andy Reid are with the Chiefs, they’ll pose a major challenge to all AFC West teams, no matter the other quarterbacks in the division.
Within the final six weeks of the season, the Broncos will have to square off against several mobile quarterbacks in Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens and Kyler Murray of the Arizona Cardinals. Jackson, whose Ravens finished last in the AFC North in 2022, should be a major problem for the Broncos. The Ravens traded away Hollywood Brown during the 2022 NFL Draft, which is good in terms of the passing game, but I’d expect Jackson to be even more of a threat on the ground now.
The same can be said about Murray, in a way. The Cardinals were the team that acquired Brown, which is a problem. The Cardinals will have Brown and DeAndre Hopkins at their disposal. At cornerback for the Broncos is second-year former top-10 pick Patrick Surtain and 2021 free-agent pickup Ronald Darby.
I think that Broncos defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero will have to do some extra planning against these two quarterbacks ahead of the respective matchups.
The Denver Broncos will also face the defending Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams in Week 16. The Rams have an explosive offense that is likely to be a problem for virtually any team they face. Unless the Broncos generate a strong pass rush, I think the Rams could have a field day against Denver, unfortunately.
Lastly, the Broncos get a home game against the Chargers to close out the season. While I think that they should be well in the playoffs by this point, this is not a game they can let slip away. They need to continue a winning streak into the 2022 playoffs. If the Broncos let this game go, they risk a momentum shift and that would be very bad.
The Broncos have a tough ending to their 2022 schedule, but never say never when it comes to coming out with a big win streak.