One of the reasons the Kansas City Chiefs have dominated the AFC West so thoroughly in recent years is the quality of their competition. The Las Vegas Raiders are barely worth mentioning at this point, and both the Los Angeles Chargers and Denver Broncos have been strictly pretenders.
That may be changing this year, though, especially in Denver. The Broncos are showing signs of being a force in the division this season, although the quality of the last three opponents in their current five-game win streak is nothing to write home about.
The question of whether the Broncos are for real is well worth considering, though, and NFL writers Ted Nguyen, Dan Pompei and Michael Silver of The Athletic took a run at it in one section of their weekend takeaways. Most of the points they made weren’t exactly unique, but they’re definitely worth a closer look as the Chiefs go through final prep for tonight's game against the Washington Commanders.
Start with the Broncos defense. This unit has looked like a championship unit in recent weeks, although the injury to cornerback Patrick Surtain II raises serious questions about whether that will be the case going forward. As Silver noted, it’s hard to believe that defensive coordinator Vance Joseph was on at the ropes a couple of years ago when his defense gave up 70 points to the Miami Dolphins. Defensive overhauls are hard, and this one is impressive.
Balance is another impressive characteristic of this Broncos team. They won with defense in London a few weeks ago against the New York Jets and against the Philadelphia Eagles before that, but quarterback Bo Nix has carried them the last two weeks. The running game can be formidable, too, as yesterday’s effort against the Dallas Cowboys showed.
There are still doubters about Nix, especially when it comes to him facing the likes of quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert. His downfield throws are improving, however, and the Broncos upcoming game against the Houston Texans tough defense will give us a bit more information about Nix.
As for the Chargers, they rebounded from a tough stretch with an impressive 37-10 win against a Minnesota Vikings team that suddenly doesn’t have a number one quarterback. LA has another cupcake game against the Tennessee Titans this week, and the most accurate way to assess the Chargers’ chances is that they go as their offensive line goes.
The return of stud tackle Joe Alt was massive for them, both literally and figuratively. He restored order to a group that couldn’t do much for Herbert and the running backs, and with him back Chargers have to be legitimately considered in the mix.
The best part of this race is that there are still plenty of division games left. The Broncos have yet to play the Chiefs, and they still have to play the Chargers again, as do the Chiefs. There are plenty of other divisional matchups on tap, and this has become a fun race that should be one of the best in the NFL.