The Broncos are in position to turn Week 9 into a major checkpoint for their season.
A win would push Denver even closer to locking up a third straight playoff berth, and the numbers already point in that direction. NFL Next Gen Stats gives the Broncos a 92 percent chance to make the postseason right now.
Beat their Week 9 opponent, and that climbs to 95 percent. A loss would drop them to 88 percent, which still leaves them in strong shape.
That kind of outlook fits the way Denver has handled the season so far. The Broncos are 6-2 for the second year in a row, riding a four-game winning streak and having won six of seven.
They were the last AFC team to clinch a playoff spot in the 2024 NFL Season, doing it in Week 18 with a home win over the Kansas City Chiefs. Kansas City was resting many of its starters, so Denver was essentially facing backups.
Then in the 2025 NFL Season, the Broncos were the first AFC team to clinch and also grabbed the No. 1 seed.
This year’s path has looked strong from the start, and the schedule has helped shape the optimism. Much of the talk around Denver centered on how much easier things would get after Week 6. A 4-2 start was seen as the best-case setup because it would leave room for another late-season surge and a pile of wins down the stretch.
There is still plenty left to play, and nothing is locked in yet. But the Broncos have put themselves in a favorable spot, with remaining games against Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and New England still on the calendar. Winning even one of those could put Denver in position for a 13-4 finish, and a 12-5 season is also clearly within reach.
The timing of the Week 10 bye only adds to the appeal. It lands right in the middle of the season, giving Denver a chance to bring in players at the trade deadline and get them ready before the second-half push.
In Other News...
Broncos Suddenly Have A Jaylen Waddle Question Worth Watching
After a disappointing start to the season, Jaylen Waddle has started to show a little more life in recent games for the Broncos, enough to make his role worth watching again. The improvement has not been dramatic, but it has shown up in meaningful spots, including a touchdown and a clutch two-point conversion catch, the kind of plays that can hint at a receiver settling back in after an uneven opening stretch.
Sean Payton has offered cautious optimism about Waddles progress, but the bigger picture still leaves plenty of questions. His overall production remains well below what he has delivered in past seasons, and with Denvers offense still struggling to find consistency, the Broncos need more than a few encouraging moments before anyone can say the issue is solved. [Read more 🡒]
Broncos Have A Crucial Week 9 Chance Payton And Nix Know Well
The Broncos head into Week 9 with a familiar kind of opportunity on the schedule, a meeting with the Panthers that lands right before the NFL trade deadline and offers a useful measuring stick for a team trying to keep its momentum pointed in the right direction. For Sean Payton, it is also the kind of matchup he has long handled well, with Denver getting a look at a division he has historically navigated with confidence.
Bo Nix, meanwhile, has already shown a comfort level against NFC South opponents, which only adds to the intrigue around this trip through a part of the calendar that can shape more than one week at a time. If Denver can carry those trends into Carolina, the conversation around the Broncos could shift quickly as the deadline approaches, even if the bigger question of how this stretch ultimately defines their season still hangs in the air. [Read more 🡒]
Broncos Win Over Jaguars Suddenly Carries Massive AFC Stakes
Denvers early-season win over Jacksonville looked like a nice road result at the time, but it has taken on a very different feel as the AFC picture starts to sharpen. The Broncos are 6-2 and already hold the head-to-head edge over a Jaguars team that has played well enough since then to keep the result relevant far beyond September.
If both clubs keep winning their divisions, that Week 2 meeting could end up mattering in the kind of tiebreaker race that decides playoff positioning. Denver has plenty of football left to play, but this is the sort of result that can quietly loom over the standings all winter, especially if the teams finish with matching records and the bracket starts to come into focus. [Read more 🡒]