The Denver Broncos have one of the toughest stretches of any team during the 2026 NFL Season. In September and October, the Broncos play seven regular season games. Five of those games are against double-digit winning, playoff teams from a year ago.
Another one of those games comes against the Kansas City Chiefs, and in Week 7, things begin to lighten up, as the Broncos then go on a stretch where they play the Arizona Cardinals, Chiefs at home, Carolina Panthers, Las Vegas Raiders, and Pittsburgh Steelers.
Anyway, we have seen this team get off to slow starts in the Sean Payton era, and for some reason, Payton-coached teams simply don't start off strong in September. They end up heating up in October and November, but September just sticks out like a sore thumb. This also does give the Broncos a clear advantage in 2026 if they can somehow avoid a slow start to open up the season.
Denver Broncos starting fast and 'winning' September could be the season's biggest advantage
Winning the AFC West and earning the top playoff seed in the AFC for a second year in a row should be the first two goals this team has for the 2026 season, and considering the Broncos did this in 2025, I don't see why it can't happen in 2026.
Anyway, shaking those slow September starts is crucial. Here is how the Broncos have played in September in each year of the Payton era:
2023: 0-3
2024: 2-2
2025: 2-2
In 11 September games, the Broncos are a shaky 4-7, winning just 36.4 percent of games in this month. However, here is how the Broncos finished each season after those slow starts:
2023: 8-6
2024: 8-5
2025: 12-1
Combined after September, the Broncos have gone 28-12, which is a .70 winning percentage. The Broncos win seventy percent of their regular season games in months not called September in the Payton era.
The potential advantage here is clear.. The Broncos have three games in September this year, so even a 2-1 start would end up being a huge improvement over the other Septembers in the Payton era. If the Broncos were to start 2-1 and still hold onto that .700 winning percentage the rest of the way, they would be on pace for a 12-5 season. While that would be a regression from 2025, it would still very likely hand the Broncos another AFC West title.
And if this team can simply find a way to go on another long winning streak, that 12-5 record could easily be 13-4 or better. We also did see just how important it was for the Broncos to win 14 games last year, as winning just one fewer would have handed the AFC's top seed to the New England Patriots, and it would have actually dropped Denver to the third seed, as they had lost the tiebreaker against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
While the Broncos getting to 14-3 might not be the most likely scenario in 2026, starting fast in 2026 and avoiding another slow September start is massive.
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