The Denver Broncos managed to get out of this six-game stretch to begin the 2026 with a healthy 4-2 record. The Broncos are 4-2 for the second year in a row, and while this year has felt sloppy, being 4-2 after facing a ton of juggernauts is quite the accomplishment.
And now, the Broncos will embark on one of the more underrated advantages in an NFL season - the mini-bye week following a Thursday Night Football game, especially after a win. Denver's defense seems to be figuring things out these past couple weeks, and it's now time for the offense to do the same.
When you think about it, the team being 4-2 with the offense in its current form is absolutely mind-blowing, and it proves just how good this team can be.
If the Denver Broncos can figure out this offense, the league will be put on notice...
The Broncos rank just 26th in scoring, putting up 19 points per game. They now rank 9th in points allowed per game. Quarterback Bo Nix has not thrown for more than 288 yards in a game and has five games with fewer than 220 passing yards.
Denver has not run for more than 106 yards in a game this year and have three separate instances for fewer than 80 yards. To be honest, what we've seen from the offense is pre-Bo Nix era Broncos. All of those years with the plethora of different quarterbacks they trotted out is what this current version of the offense feels like.
And yet, with the toughest schedule in the league to start, the Broncos won four of their six games. For more context, here is how each scoring defense ranks among the team's first six games:
-Chiefs: 7th
-Jaguars: 2nd
-Rams: 20th
-49ers: 3rd
-Chargers: 22nd
-Seahawks: 8th
Four top-10 scoring defenses in the first six weeks is something, so it's not really that surprising that the offense has looked the way it has, but with the schedule softening up in the coming weeks, you'd ideally think that the rest of the season could simply yield better offensive results.
But let's talk about this mini-bye week a bit more. We did already mention how much better Nix looked after the team's mini-bye week in 2025, and with the team set to embark on this mini-bye, we could see Nix begin to turn it up.
His pre-mini-bye numbers in 2024 and 2025 paint a pretty interesting picture:
2024:
Pre:
7 games
61.2 percent completion
1,246 yards
8 total touchdowns
5 interceptions
74.4 passer rating
Post:
10 games
69.7 percent completion
2,529 yards
25 total touchdowns
7 interceptions
105.7 passer rating
2025:
Pre:
10 games
60.9 percent completion
2,126 yards
21 total touchdowns
8 interceptions
85.7 passer rating
Post:
7 games
66.8 percent completion
1,805 yards
9 total touchdowns
3 interceptions
90.6 passer rating
Nix's completion percentage and passer rating both take significant jumps in the games following this mini-bye week, and with Nix having a full two-year sample here, there is reason to believe that this can continue into 2026 as the schedule softens up.
Denver will face Arizona, Kansas City, and Carolina across the next three weeks before their actual bye, which comes during Week 10.
And this is also simply something that needs to happen. If Nix and the offense still can't find their footing going forward, we'll have some major issues, but the recent history does indicate that the offense is going to get going, and with how bad it's looked, the team being 4-2 after this stretch does prove that this team can be truly elite if Sean Payton's unit is able to turn it up a notch.
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