The Denver Broncos could have won it all in the 2025 NFL Season had Bo Nix not broken his ankle. And it's not like the ankle break was Nix's fault - it was simply a freak accident at the worst possible time.
With Nix finishing up his ankle recovery, the Broncos will soon have their starting quarterback healthy and perhaps more motivated than ever. It is so incredibly difficult to win consistently in the NFL, so the Broncos even getting back into the playoffs in 2026 could be a major challenge.
And heck, winning one game in this league is also a challenge. Well, the Broncos have won at a high level for two years now, going 24-10 in the regular season. Given how strong the roster is and how stable the franchise is at the moment, another great season could be on the way, but this fun wrinkle in Sean Payton's head coaching career could lead to a Denver Super Bowl this season.
Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton won the Super Bowl in Year 4 as the Saints head coach
Payton's first four years with the Saints looked like this:
2026: 10-6, 1-1 in the playoffs
2007: 7-9, no playoffs
2008: 8-8, no playoffs
2009: 13-3, 3-0 in the playoffs, Super Bowl title
Here are Payton's first three years with the Broncos:
2023: 8-9, no playoffs
2024: 10-7, 0-1 in the playoffs
2025: 14-3, 1-1 in the playoffs
2026: ??
Payton and the Saints were off to a great start in 2006, but right after that season, they endured two years of no playoffs before returning and winning it all in 2009. There could be some relevance to that fourth year as well. Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni won the Super Bowl in his fourth year, and Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay won the Super Bowl in his fifth year.
Getting to that fourth/fifth year in a tenure could be major. Year one is typically the 'ground zero' start of any tenure, and we did see that a bit with the Broncos, especially after the 1-5 start back in 2023. But as tenures progress, coaches get more comfortable in the role, and are able to bring in their own players to mold a roster how they want.
The Broncos peaked in this regard in 2025, as it's quite difficult to win more than 14 games in a regular season in today's NFL. And it's not like it's some wild thing to say that the Broncos could indeed win the Super Bowl.
Hopefully, history repeats itself for Payton. He could capture his second Super Bowl title and fully cement his Hall of Fame career. With the Broncos having added Jaylen Waddle in a trade, the offense is shored up and ready to roll.
The defense did lose John Franklin-Myers and Dre Greenlaw, but it's very possible that new additions in Tyler Onyedim, Red Murdock, and Taurean York help soften the blow of those losses. Overall, it's hard to find a notable weakness with the Broncos, so Payton repeating his own history could very well be on the table in 2025.
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