As the Denver Broncos continue to plummet to some of the lowest of lows in franchise history, they are in the midst of two terrible losing streaks within their own division.
Dating back to 2015, the year the Broncos won Super Bowl 50, they have lost 15 games in a row to the Kansas City Chiefs. It's entirely possible that you have heard that hundreds of times over the last several years.
That losing streak gets all of the press because the Chiefs have been one of the league's marquee teams ever since Patrick Mahomes came into the league.
But the Broncos have also lost seven games in a row to their No.1 rival, the Las Vegas Raiders, who defeated them 17-16 in Week 1.
The losing streak to the Chiefs is no doubt bad. It's frustrating, it's annoying, it needs to come to an end. But at least most of those games have been games the Broncos should have lost.
The Chiefs are a superior team. They have the best player in the entire league, one of the best head coaches and an organization that has built the team quite well. That is why they have enjoyed two Super Bowl victories in the last four years.
It would be nice to see the Broncos pull off an upset and get that Chiefs monkey off their backs, but they have mostly all been games where they should have lost.
They should not be losing to the Raiders.
The Broncos have not beaten the Raiders since December 2019, a game they only won by one point. In that time, here are some things that the Raiders have gone through:
Moving from Oakland to Las Vegas
Dismissing Jon Gruden as head coach after some incredible deragatory emails surfaced from his past
Hired failed Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels to replace Gruden
Fired general manager Mike Mayock after several failed draft picks
Moved on from Derek Carr at quarterback and replaced him with Jimmy Garoppolo
Now, the Broncos have been through tumultuous times too, but here's a telling stat as to why the losing streak to the Raiders is far worse than the one to the Chiefs.
Since the Broncos last beat the Chiefs, the Chiefs' overall win-loss record is 96-32. Since the last time the Broncos beat the Raiders, the Raiders' win-loss record is 25-26. The Raiders have lost 26 times since that game and none of those losses have been against the Broncos.
The Broncos don't get another chance to put this streak to rest until the final game of the regular season this year.