For the Broncos, road games against the Chargers historically have not felt like road games. During the Chargers' final years in San Diego and even its first few in Los Angeles, its home stadium acted as a venue for fans of away teams to see their team play underneath the sunny California skies. The Broncos used to be the biggest beneficiaries of this lopsided stadium dynamic, but the times have changed. Since the completion of SoFi Stadium 2020, the Chargers (and Rams) home field has been a house of horrors for the Denver Broncos. On that field, the team is 0-4 and will be seeking its first ever win at SoFi on Sunday.
Losing can not be squarely placed on a stadium, there are plenty of reasons the Broncos have fallen down over and over again on that field. At the top of that list is an obvious one, the team has just not been very good over the last few years. The only Denver teams to set foot inside that Stadium so far are the 2020, 2021 and 2022 teams- three teams that were less than equipped to win tough games on the road to put it lightly.
Despite the Broncos fielding some of the worst teams in franchise history, a few of those past nightmares in SoFi were fairly competitive. In 2020 and 2022, Denver lost 19-16 heart-breakers to the Chargers, and one of those games went to overtime. Of course, there is also a 34-13 dismantling at the hands of the Chargers from 2021. Ironically, Denver's worst performance at SoFi came not against its bitter division rival, but against the Los Angeles Rams. Everyone in Broncos Country remembers that 51-14 Christmas Day beat down in 2022.
Not only have the Broncos failed to win in SoFi in four different attempts, but they have seen the entire spectrum of defeat. Whether it's gut-wrenching overtime losses, or embarrassing blowouts, SoFi stadium has not been kind to the Broncos. The good news is, Denver's luck may be changing.
The 2023 Broncos are by far the most viable team Denver has fielded since its string of bad luck in SoFi started, and the 2023 Chargers are perhaps the most vulnerable Chargers squad of the last four years. Denver will head into week 14 a game ahead of the Chargers in the standings, and as winners of five of its last six. Los Angeles has only won two of its last four games, and one of those wins was an ugly 6-0 victory over a lowly Patriots squad.
This game will be Denver's best chance to get a win in SoFi since the stadium opened in 2020, and you can bet they will be gunning for the victory. Under head coach Sean Payton, the Broncos have experienced a lot of firsts. The Broncos beat Kansas City for the first time since 2015, they had its first five-game win streak since the Manning era, and now it may be time to grab its first ever win in that cursed stadium.