The Denver Broncos sit at 7-2 through nine games of the 2026 season and are well positioned to make a deep playoff run this year. The team still has eight games left in the regular season, but the schedule does soften up a good bit after the bye.
Of their eight remaining games, only three are against teams with a winning record, and even in that even, the New England Patriots, who the Broncos play in Week 17, are just 5-4. There are, perhaps at minimum, another 5 wins available for the Broncos, but there is an avenue to win six or more down the stretch.
And with it being very likely that this team gets into the playoffs for the third year in a row, the biggest challenge for a potential Super Bowl run might not even be the other good team in their own division.
The Denver Broncos may eventually have to cross paths with the Cincinnati Bengals
Folks, the Cincinnati Bengals are insane.
Specifically, Joe Burrow has been playing out of his mind this year. The Bengals currently rank 2nd in points per game, scoring an average of 30 per contest, and the defense has largely been solid this year, ranking a modest 14th in points allowed, allowing opponents to score 21.9 points per game.
This is the formula for the Bengals; field a high-powered offense with Burrow at the helm, and simply be competent on defense. It has worked out big-time for the Bengals, who now sit at 6-2 and feel like a team that can make a ton of noise in the playoffs this year.
Through eight games, Burrow is completing a league-high 74 percent of his passes for 2,386 yards, 23 touchdowns, and six interceptions. He leads quarterbacks in passing yards per game with 298.3 and in passer rating, with a stellar 114.8 mark.
He also has two receivers in Tee Higgins and Ja'Marr Chase who are both on pace to easily eclipse the 1,000-yard mark this year as well. There is also evidence that the Bengals can be a threat in the playoffs. They've only made the postseason twice in the Burrow era, in the 2021 and 2022 seasons, but in the 2021 season, they made it to the Super Bowl, and in 2022, they advanced to the AFC Championship Game, so the limited playoff success is quite obvious.
The Broncos don't play the Bengals this year, and in an ideal world, if the Broncos need to face the Bengals in the playoffs, it's either a home game in the Wild Card Round or, perhaps, a home game in the Divisional or Conference Championship Game round.
Having to potentially travel to Cincy would be a monumental challenge, and while I might be getting ahead of myself here, it's pretty obvious that both Cincinnati and Denver are playoff-caliber teams, as we all saw what the Broncos did last year, and we know that the Bengals are capable of a deep run.
Watch out for the Bengals.
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