Sean Payton keeps piling up wins in Denver, and the milestones are starting to stack up just as fast.
At 5-2, the Broncos are on pace for their third straight 10-plus-win season under Payton. Since he took over in Denver, he’s 37-21, a .638 winning percentage.
And if you zoom in on the stretch since the start of the Bo Nix era in 2024, the Broncos are 29-12, which works out to .707. The record hasn’t always been pretty, but the results keep landing in the same place: wins, and a team that looks like a real contender.
Now Payton is closing in on some serious all-time company. He is one win away from tying Dan Reeves for the 11th-most regular season wins in NFL history. Denver gets the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 8, and the Broncos have beaten Kansas City all three times at home in the Payton era so far.
He is also five wins away from moving past Reeves, Mike Tomlin, and Chuck Noll and standing alone with the ninth-most regular season wins in league history. If Denver reaches at least 10-7 again, Payton would clear that group during the 2026 regular season.
The climb doesn’t stop there. If the Broncos were to finish with 12 wins, Payton would add seven more to his total and reach 196 regular season wins for his career.
That would put Marty Schottenheimer in reach sometime in 2027. Paul Brown at 213 is a tougher target, and getting there before 2028 would be unlikely.
Still, Payton has time. He is under contract through 2030, which gives him four full seasons beyond this one if he sees it through in Denver.
And beyond the numbers, there’s the bigger picture: Payton is in position to become the first head coach in NFL history to win a Super Bowl with two different franchises. In the view of the source, he’s already a future Hall of Famer if he walked away right now, but another Lombardi would make the case airtight.
For now, though, the headline is simple. Payton keeps winning, the Broncos keep rolling, and his place on the all-time coaching leaderboard keeps getting higher.
In Other News...
Broncos Head Into Chiefs Rematch With One Big Reason For Confidence
A 30-16 win over Arizona gave Denver a needed boost and nudged the Broncos to 5-2, but it also offered a reminder that this team can find different ways to win when the game calls for it. Bo Nix helped set the tone with his legs, and rookie running back Jonah Coleman made a noticeable return from injury, giving the offense a little more balance as Denver heads toward a Chiefs rematch with momentum.
The bigger part of the week, though, may be how the Broncos handled the game without Patrick Surtain II on the field at all. Denver was forced to adjust on the fly after he was downgraded shortly before kickoff, and the defense still managed to get through a solid test against Arizona. How that holds up against Kansas City is the next question, especially with another divisional heavyweight waiting and the Broncos trying to prove this early run is built to last. [Read more 🡒]
Jonah Coleman Just Reopened A Broncos Backfield Debate
Jonah Colemans return gave the Broncos a fresher look in the backfield in Week 7, and it came at a time when Denver needed one. After missing several games with an ankle injury, Coleman was back in the mix against the Arizona Cardinals and quickly made his presence felt in a win that pushed the Broncos to 5-2. His workload stood out right away, especially in a rotation that had been searching for a clearer answer on the ground.
Coleman led Denvers running backs with nine carries for 54 yards and added two catches for 15 yards, a solid showing that gives the team something to think about going forward. It was the kind of return that can change how a coaching staff views its weekly distribution, and for a Broncos offense still sorting out its identity on the ground, his timing could not have been much better. [Read more 🡒]
Bo Nix Just Changed The Feel Around Denvers Chiefs Test
Bo Nix did enough against the Arizona Cardinals to quiet any noise that might have built up around Denvers quarterback spot, and Sean Payton made sure the message afterward was clear. Nix handled the offense with efficiency, throwing for 222 yards and a touchdown while also adding a score on the ground, giving the Broncos a steadier-looking answer as they try to keep their momentum heading into a tougher stretch.
Paytons tone after the win mattered as much as the box score, because the Broncos have been navigating a matchup-driven season where confidence can swing quickly from one week to the next. With Kansas City looming, the support from inside the building leaves Nix in a much different spot than a few hours earlier, and it sharpens the attention on how Denvers offense will look when the stakes rise again. [Read more 🡒]