Where the Denver Broncos Stand at the Midway Point of 2025

The Denver Broncos lead the AFC West at the midway point of 2025.

Well, technically, “It's impossible to have the halfway point because we're on odd number of games," Sean Payton said after the Texans win. "We passed the halfway point. I'm kidding you. It is what it is. What's our record? I lost track.”

Rewind to the offseason and many fans would be elated for the team to be 7-2 through nine weeks of play.

Let's get into all the stats that define this team through nine games, and explore how they can win the AFC West down the stretch.

Denver Broncos Lead the AFC West By One Game

Where do the Denver Broncos stand at the midway point in the 2025 season? They lead the AFC West by one game over the Chargers and are up two games on the Chiefs.

At this point in the season, the Raiders are all but eliminated from playoff contention.

Denver's on a 6-game win streak. That's the longest winning streak since 2015 when they won Super Bowl 50. It's also the longest in the Sean Payton Era, surpassing 2023's 5-game win streak. Payton's teams have gone on 6-game win streaks seven times in the past. They won the division, the NFC South, six of those times.

The Good

The Broncos are outscoring opponents 86-20 in the 4th quarter this year. That plus-60 number in the fourth is by far the best in the NFL.

Also, the Broncos are now 5-2 in one-score games. They were 1-5 in those games last year and 6-9 in them during Payton's first two years combined.

Defense

Denver's defense is arguably the best in the league. They continue to lead the NFL in sacks with 40, they're 4th in scoring defense (18.4 PPG), and No. 1 in both 3rd down and red zone defense. Pat Surtain is still the best cornerback in the NFL, too.

Bo Nix

Nix has been phenomenal in the fourth quarter. He's completed 64.1 percent of passes for 639 yards with 7 touchdowns and 1 interception in the 4th. That's good for a 105.3 passer rating. He also set an NFL record with four touchdowns in the fourth quarter against the Giants; two passing, two running.

The Running Game

Denver's currently seventh in rushing yards and fifth in yards per attempt (4.9). J.K. Dobbins has been a huge boon to the Broncos offensively. Dobbins is fifth in rushing yards (695) and seventh in yards per carry (5.1).

The O-line

Denver's O-line has been arguably the best in the league. Especially at pass protection.

The Bad

The Broncos opponents haven't been great. But they have beat some good teams like the Eagles and the Texans. Meanwhile, they have played a lot of bad teams like the Titans, Jets, and Bengals.

Hey, you gotta beat who you get scheduled. Simple as that.

Not only have the Broncos "not played anyone" as the strength of victory shows, their point differential in the first three quarters is awful, too. They are a -1 in those three quarters compared to the +60 in the fourth.

That offense is scary-bad when it's going wrong. They can't hope to beat great teams by getting behind early every week.

Sean Payton's play calling has been part of the issues. He runs the ball far too often on 2nd and long and doesn't go for it on 4th downs when he should. Payton's called too many screens and become too predictable overall.

Bo Nix

Bo Nix has been bad at times, including in the Houston and Tennessee games, both wins. Like the offense, he's struggled in the first three quarters compared to the fourth. He's been great at passes near the line of scrimmage, but at times terrible on intermediate and deep balls.

Denver Broncos Bo Nix: The Good, the Bo, and the Ugly

Denver Broncos Bo Nix is a great quarterback at times, mostly in the 4th quarter of games. Why isn’t he the rest of the game?

Broncos BlitzRich Kurtzman

Special Teams

Speaking of bad, the Broncos special teams stinks. Michael Bandy muffed a punt last week and shouldn't have even been in the game. Marvin Mims should've been returning punts like always but he sustained a concussion when Darren Rizzi—the special teams coordinator—didn't get him off the field for a late kickoff return vs. the Cowboys.

Sloppy Coaching From Sean Payton and Staff is Hurting the Broncos

Sean Payton’s sloppy coaching is hurting the Broncos. Marvin Mims’ concussion is one literal example of hurting his players.

Broncos BlitzRich Kurtzman

Rizzi's unit is also second-worst in return yardage allowed when combining punts and kickoffs. And they had a field goal blocked against the Texans, and were called for that leverage penalty that cost the team the win against the Colts.

Power Rankings

As of Week 10, the Denver Broncos are in the top 10 in most power rankings.

In fact, Pro Football Talk has Denver at No. 2 overall.

No. 2 is probably a little too high for the Broncos, but it seems like PFT does their rankings with a strong recency bias.

Meanwhile, NFL.com has Denver at No. 9, ESPN ranks Denver at No. 7, and the Ringer has them at 7, too.

And Ben Baldwin's power rankings has Denver at 10. (Don't look at where Kansas City lands on most of these lists. Hint: It's in the top 5.)

Denver's Path to Winning the AFC West

Broncos remaining strength of schedule is 18th per Tankathon. That's the easiest between the AFC West contenders. The Chargers play the fifth-toughest schedule while the Chiefs' remaining slate is 13th-hardest.

Oh, and the Broncos are currently the AFC's No. 3 seed. The Chiefs are on the outside looking in.

Three Crucial Games to Win the AFC West Remain for Denver

The Broncos play the Chiefs twice and the Chargers on the last week of the regular season. Those game will determine whether or not the Broncos win the West.

They are:

• Chiefs at Broncos on Nov. 16
• Broncos at Chiefs on Christmas Day
• Chargers at Broncos on Jan. 4 to end the regular season

While the two games against the Raiders are important too, those should be chalked up to wins at this point.

After tomorrow's tilt with the Raiders on Thursday Night Football, the Broncos should be 8-2 as they go on the mini-bye.

Chiefs at Broncos, Week 11

Then, the Chiefs come to town on Nov. 16 in a crucial game for the division. Since they're on the bye currently, Kansas City can't improve from their current 5-4 record.

Simply, a win over Kansas City would be monumental. First, the Broncos would (likely) improve to 9-2 and the Chiefs would fall to 5-5. That's a four-game lead. It wouldn't eliminate KC from the division, because they can always go on a run, but it would make it extremely difficult for them.

Second, it would be another regular season win over the Chiefs. KC beat the Broncos 16 straight times until 2023, when Payton's Broncos beat Patrick Mahomes in his flu game at Mile High. They also won in Week 18 last year over the Chefs—I call them that intentionally here because they rested all their starters—but that game doesn't really count in terms of the rivalry. To beat the champs, you gotta beat the champs.

Finally, it would be huge because the Broncos are going to get the Chiefs' best game. Not only are they coming off a bye, meaning they'll have an extra week to prepare, but they're going to be hungry for a win after losing to Buffalo.

Broncos at Chiefs, Week 17, Christmas Day

I am not a fan of the Broncos and Chiefs playing on Christmas Day. Let's just get that out of the way.

I want to open presents, and possibly drive up the Rocky Mountain National Park, which is our family tradition that day. I don't want to have to be stressed out watching the Chiefs in red and Andy "Gravy for Blood" Reid looking like Santa Claus without the beard for four hours.

But the greedy NFL saw the NBA playing on Christmas Day and decided they needed some of that holiday money for themselves. (Maybe I'll write a column on this when it comes closer.)

Besides that, we don't know that the teams' records will be. But if I had to guess, Kansas City will be within a game of the division at that point. Winning in KC in November and December is damn-near impossible, so Denver will have to bring their A-game.

Chargers at Broncos, Week 18

This one's for all the marbles. At least, that's how it looks right now.

LA is one game back of Denver in the West and they're not going away. Although, as explained earlier, their strength of schedule is much harder than the Broncos. They face at least four playoff teams—including the Eagles—and that's not including the Jaguars, who would be in today.

If the Chargers hang tough down the stretch, it'll be close. If they fall apart, that Christmas Day game the week before could cement the division for Denver for the first time in a decade.

Other Games Denver Plays

Here's a quick look at who the Broncos play the rest of the way. Bold is home.

• Raiders (2-6)
• Chiefs (5-4)
• Bye
• @ Washington (3-6)
• @ Raiders (2-6)
• Packers (5-2-1)
• Jaguars (5-3)
• @ Chiefs (5-4)
• Chargers (6-3)

I see three definite wins, one should-win in the Jags, and four toss-up games that will be incredibly tough. And that final month of the season is brutal for the Broncos.

What they need to do right now is keep winning (duh) and build the lead in the AFC West. Over the next five weeks, the Broncos should be 10-3 at worst, and possibly even 11-2.

Of course, they can't look ahead like I just did here. They need to focus on one game at a time.

Tomorrow, that's the Raiders. The Broncos are 14th in scoring (25.0) and 4th in scoring defense (18.4) while Las Vegas is 29th in scoring (16.5) and 23rd in scoring defense (26.3).

The Broncos should absolutely blow out the Raiders. Give me 30-3.