The Denver Broncos bye could not come at a better time, as this team was beginning to rack up some injuries and really had to test their depth in the secondary in Week 9. With the Broncos having a very manageable schedule the rest of the way, there is a legitimate path for this team to go 14-3 for the second year in a row.
And the path for an AFC West title and the top seed in the playoff race is present. It's wild to think that Denver has sustained the same style of winning for more than a year now, and it's clear that this is part of the team's identity.
After the bye, though, the Broncos have to ensure that these three things are improved on.
The Denver Broncos have 3 key areas of improvement that need to happen following the bye
Running the ball
The Broncos inability to run the ball consistently is partly due to the offensive line, but J.K. Dobbins, for example. has not looked good himself. Everyone has dirty hands with the team's inefficiency running the ball this year. Right now, the Broncos average just 91.4 rushing yards per game, which ranks 27th in the league.
If you remove Bo Nix's 62-yard touchdown run, which is very clearly an outlier, the Broncos would average 84.6 yards per game, which would rank 30th in football. In the four games that Jonah Coleman has gotten carries, the Broncos have averaged 105.5 yards per game on the ground.
There is some progress with Coleman getting carries, but after the bye, the Broncos need to figure something out. We have seen some subar play from Ben Powers, the team's left guard, so you'd ideally hope that Denver tries out some personnel changes after the bye, as Powers has not gotten much push in the run game and has not held up in pass protection, either.
Both Luke Wattenberg and Mike McGlinchey have also played rather poorly this year, but the Broncos did have to dip into their reserves at left guard for an extended period of time last year with Alex Palczewski, so it's likely easier to give him another shot with Powers' struggles.
If Denver can't run the ball late in the season, they'll be derailed very early on in the playoffs, and it's not a secret that this team simply could not run the ball when Dobbins got hurt last year, and we all saw how 2025 ended.
Third down defense
The Broncos third down defense has been rather horrific this year. They're allowing a 41.22 percent conversion rate on third down, which ranks just 21st in football. In 2025, that number was 35.56 percent, which was the sixth-best in the sport.
The defense has regressed a bit, and while the pass rush has still been there, the unit's inability to get off the field has also contributed to the team allowingt 68.7 opponent plays per game, which is the highest in the league.
Simply put; the defense is not getting off the field nearly enough and are making themselves much more vulnerable to being scored on more. The unit ranks 10th in points allowed per game, which is down from 2024 and 2025.
Denver's defense being able to get off the field does give the offense more opportunities, which could help that unit continue its mini-surge from these past few weeks.
Third down offense
The offense's hands are dirty, too. The team has converted just 32.4 percent of their third downs this year, which is the second-worst mark in the sport. Only the 2-5-1 Washington Commanders have converted a smaller percentage of their third down attempts. What is really funny is that the Broncos actually rank first in fourth down conversion, converting 83.3 percent of their attempts.
Denver's early down offense is to blame here as well, as this team is constantly facing second and third and long situations. Because they aren't getting a ton of push in the run game, they're left in long down and distances. Getting the run game going and setting up 2nd and 5, for example, and not 2nd and 8 would go a long way.
Keeping drives alive also takes the strain off of the offense to need to 'come through' late in games. While the unit can do that, converting more third downs would give the offense longer drives and more points as a result.
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