Five weeks in, the AFC West is already starting to look less like a race and more like a hierarchy. The Kansas City Chiefs sat idle and still gained ground, while the Las Vegas Raiders slipped, the Denver Broncos kept surviving in uneven fashion, and the Los Angeles Chargers kept finding new ways to collapse.
- Los Angeles Chargers
Trending: Steady
The Chargers are 0-5, and the early-season wobble has turned into a full-scale disaster. Los Angeles led through three quarters against Denver, then got blanked 13-0 over the final 15 minutes. That fourth quarter has been a recurring problem all season, with opponents outscoring the Chargers 36-13 in the period.
The offense has been a mess, too. Mike McDaniel was supposed to jump-start a unit that had gone stale under Greg Roman, but instead he has guided it into the bottom tier of the league.
The Chargers sit in the bottom 10 in offensive yards per game and the bottom three in points per game, and they are also dead last in offensive EPA per play. Jim Harbaugh needs to change something soon, or it could be his head that rolls.
- Denver Broncos
Trending: Steady
Denver got another win, but it did little to quiet the doubts around this team. The Broncos spent most of the game looking disjointed before sneaking out a last-minute victory. It is becoming a familiar pattern, and it is fair to wonder how long it can hold.
Bo Nix remains the biggest issue. He has completed less than 60% of his passes this season, and his struggles tend to show up early.
He has had trouble seeing the field in the first half, and then Sean Payton trims things down enough for Nix to settle in and do just enough. That approach has its limits, and Seattle should give Denver another tough test this week.
- Las Vegas Raiders
Trending: Down
That 3-0 start is looking shakier by the week. With the Dolphins, Chargers and Saints all proving to be bad teams, the Raiders may just be a little better than the worst of the bunch. Their loss to the Patriots did not help their case, and it feels like opponents have started to figure them out.
The offense has become too dependent on Brock Bowers hero ball, especially with defenders recognizing that Kirk Cousins can no longer move or stretch the field vertically. On the other side, the secondary has been exposed.
Starting two rookies and three league-average veterans back there has not held up, and the Raiders have been getting burned on deep throws over the past two weeks. Unless that changes quickly, Josh Allen and the Bills could make the problem even louder.
Still, there was one positive in the week. The Raiders did manage to pick up a win during a bye week.
- Kansas City Chiefs
Trending: Steady
Kansas City did not even have to play to widen the gap in the division. The Chiefs were on a bye, but the rest of the AFC West kept stumbling around them, and that was enough to make their grip on the top spot look even firmer.
Their upcoming game against the Chargers looks like another chance to separate. If Denver cannot handle Seattle and Las Vegas cannot knock off Buffalo, the Chiefs could already be three games clear, with head-to-head advantages over both the Broncos and Raiders. What once looked like a real division fight may be close to settled by Thanksgiving.
In Other News...
Raiders Offense Faces Growing Pressure In A Brutal Spot Against Buffalo
The Raiders head into Week 7 with plenty of offensive urgency and not much margin for error, trying to keep a losing streak from stretching to three games against a Buffalo team that rarely hands out easy answers. Las Vegas has been sorting through uneven play and injury concerns while trying to get more out of a group that includes Kirk Cousins, rookie Fernando Mendoza, Ashton Jeanty, Brock Bowers and Tre Tucker.
Cousins has taken the bulk of the attention because of how the offense has looked around him, but the bigger issue is getting the whole unit back on schedule before the matchup with the Bills turns into another long afternoon. Jeantys health is part of that picture, along with the need for Bowers and Tucker to be more central to what the Raiders do, and the pressure only grows from there if Las Vegas cannot find a cleaner rhythm soon. [Read more 🡒]
Maxx Crosby Draws New NFL Punishment After Raiders Loss To Patriots
The Raiders Week 5 loss to the Patriots brought another bit of fallout for one of the leagues most visible defenders. Maxx Crosby was docked by the NFL after a helmet-to-helmet hit on New England defensive tackle Cory Durden, adding a postgame cost to a frustrating afternoon for Las Vegas.
Crosbys punishment stood out around the league, too, since it was the biggest individual fine handed out in Week 5. For a Raiders team trying to steady itself after the defeat, it was another reminder that the edge Crosby plays with can come with consequences beyond the box score. [Read more 🡒]
Raiders Defense Faces Its Biggest Test Yet Against Josh Allen
The Raiders defense spent the early part of the 2026 season looking like one of the better units in the league, but the recent stretch has been a reminder of how quickly the week-to-week grind can change. After giving up high point totals to the Chiefs and Patriots, Las Vegas now turns to Buffalo, where the challenge gets much steeper against one of the NFLs most dangerous offenses.
Josh Allen and Joe Brady bring a different kind of test, the sort that forces a defense to be sharp on every snap and disciplined in every gap. Defensive coordinator Rob Leonard is sorting through his options as the Raiders try to steady things again, knowing the Bills can beat teams in a variety of ways and leave little margin for error. [Read more 🡒]