The AFC West opened Week 2 with the kind of jolt that rearranges a few assumptions fast.
Kansas City didn’t just beat Denver on Monday Night Football. The Chiefs controlled the Broncos from start to finish, and Denver looked lost on both sides of the ball in a blowout that could land among the ugliest losses of the Sean Payton era. At the very least, it belongs in the same conversation as the debacle at Miami in 2023.
And the timing could hardly be worse for the Broncos. Their next three games come against Jacksonville, the Los Angeles Rams, and the San Francisco 49ers. There’s no obvious first win sitting on the calendar, and if Denver drops the Jaguars in Week 2, the possibility of an 0-3 or even 0-4 start is very real.
With the division already starting to take shape, here’s how the AFC West stacks up after Week 1.
Kansas City sits where it always seems to end up: on top.
- Kansas City Chiefs
For this week, the Chiefs are the class of the division. They’ve owned the AFC West every year from 2016 through 2024, and there’s already a path for that to keep rolling in 2025.
Monday night showed exactly why Kansas City remains so dangerous. The Chiefs piled up more than 200 rushing yards, and Kenneth Walker posted the highest rushing yardage total of his career. That kind of ground production can cover up plenty, especially when the passing game has its own issues.
And the Chiefs do have issues there. Their pass-catchers are a concern, and consistently stretching the field through the air is still a question.
But Kansas City can lean on the run, and with Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes steering the operation, that matters a lot. Even if the Chiefs are only the third-best roster in the division on paper, they still have the two people who matter most when games have to be won.
- Denver Broncos
The Broncos got punched in the mouth and never recovered.
There’s not much mystery to the Week 1 disaster. Denver was outplayed in every phase, and now the task is simply to shake off the aftermath before the season starts to spiral.
The schedule won’t help, but the Broncos did not win 14 games last year by accident. That’s the only real reason there’s still any optimism left after a night like that.
There are 16 games remaining, and that gives Denver time to regroup. Right now, though, the Broncos are staring at a rough stretch with no easy answers.
- Los Angeles Chargers
If Denver’s loss was ugly, the Chargers’ home defeat to Arizona was worse.
Los Angeles looked like a team that couldn’t get much of anything going. The offensive line had trouble protecting Justin Herbert, Herbert himself was off, and the defense had few answers for an Arizona offense that could wind up being sneaky good.
The deeper concern is what’s been true for a while now: the Chargers may simply not have enough at the top of the roster, or enough depth behind it, to push much higher. That’s a big reason they’ve topped out at 11 wins in each of the last two seasons. They should still be good, but the ceiling has a clear limit.
- Las Vegas Raiders
The Raiders are 1-0, but the win over the Dolphins at home doesn’t exactly change the math.
Las Vegas did what it was supposed to do against a team it should beat. That said, there are still real problems on this roster. The offensive line remains unsettled, and the secondary has needed multiple starters for a while now.
Kirk Cousins is running the offense, but his limitations as a passer cap what the Raiders can do. That’s not the profile of a team that suddenly looks like a serious threat in this division. At some point, the franchise will turn to Fernand Mendoza and hope he becomes a long-term answer, but that likely won’t happen until later in the season at the earliest.
For now, the Raiders are off to a decent start. They’re still the bottom team in the AFC West.
In Other News...
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Sean Payton Faces A Bigger Bo Nix Question After Broncos Collapse
Bo Nixs afternoon against Kansas City was the kind of game that leaves a coach searching for answers in every direction. The Broncos quarterback finished with 17 completions for 131 yards and a touchdown, but the turnovers and the overall sloppiness in the loss turned what should have been another measuring-stick game into a fresh reminder of how fragile Denvers offense still is.
Sean Payton now has a much bigger quarterback conversation on his hands, especially with outside voices already wondering whether changes could come at Nix or offensive coordinator Davis Webb. Nix, for his part, pointed to execution rather than play-calling, saying the Broncos were running the calls they were given but not carrying them out well enough, which only deepens the frustration after a defeat that felt like it opened more questions than it answered. [Read more 🡒]
ESPN Just Reignited An NFL Double Standard Debate Fans Know Well
During ESPNs Monday Night Football coverage of the Broncos-Chiefs game, sideline reporter Laura Rutledge noted that Denver defender Jonathon Cooper was out because he had been placed on the commissioners exempt list after domestic violence charges. It was a sharp in-game reference to a serious off-field issue, the kind of subject broadcasts often handle carefully when a players availability is affected by more than just injury or coaching decisions.
Former Broncos safety Justin Simmons quickly took issue with ESPN bringing Coopers legal situation into the telecast, and the pushback helped reopen an old argument about where game coverage should draw the line. The reaction from former players and fans has once again put ESPNs treatment of player controversies under the microscope, especially when the topic lands in the middle of a nationally televised rivalry game. [Read more 🡒]