The Denver Broncos are 2-2 through four games in the 2024 NFL Season and could change the course of their franchise over the next month. Broncos Country are not strangers to the team starting low.
They went 0-4 to begin the 2019 NFL Season, 0-3 to begin the 2020 NFL Season, and famously started 1-5 in the 2023 NFL Season. The team does have this weird trend of turning it around mid-season, but I guess that could be the team getting a bit desperate to save their season. Well, Denver is a modest 2-2 to begin the season, but they did start the year with two-straight losses.
And it was not crazy to suggest that Denver could have been 0-4 heading into Week 5. The team had other ideas and rode two elite defensive performances and a good enough offense to get to .500 entering the second-quarter of the 2024 NFL Season. And on paper, the next four games do not feel all that intimidating.
They play the Las Vegas Raiders, Los Angeles Chargers, and Carolina Panthers at home, and have the New Orleans Saints in New Orleans in Week 7. It's not crazy to think that Denver wins three of their next four and gets to 5-3 through eight games, which would just about mark the halfway point of the season.
Another huge thing to note here is that no NFL coach in the history of the league has been better in the month of October than Sean Payton, who wins nearly 75% of his October games. Well, that would give Denver three wins over the next month. It would be the team's best eight-game start since the 2016 NFL Season, the last year they had a winning record.
There isn't going to be an easier stretch of games for the Broncos than the next four. And I understand that no game in the NFL is truly easy, but give me a break here. None of the team's next four opponents present any sort of notable challenge, and given how the Broncos have played at times in 2024, winning three of four feels realistic.
But just imagine for a second what the next month could do for the course of the franchise. The team sits at 5-3 or even 6-2 through eight games. They finally have an identity, a path forward, something to grab onto.
New ownership, new uniforms, an encouraging rookie QB, and a Super Bowl-winning head coach to boot. Sean Payton's vision could truly take shape over the next month, and he even has a chance to win against his former team, the New Orleans Saints.
The Broncos can also make some progress when you consider their stance league-wide, as the team could get some much-deserved recognition. It's hard to not day-dream about the optimistic side of the next four games. The team is wearing the objectively amazing 1977 throwback uniforms in Week 5 against the Las Vegas Raiders, which is another huge bonus here.
Denver has everything in front of them; they have a chance to positively change the course of their franchise, but also have a chance to fall flat on their faces.