The Denver Broncos could not replicate the success that they had last season in this year's season opener against the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Denver Broncos got off to the roughest start possible to begin the 2026 season, suffering a Week 1 demolition against the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday Night Football. Not much seemed to go right for Sean Payton’s Broncos on Monday. This game felt like an opening warning shot that the boogeyman of the AFC West is back and that 2025 was the anomaly.
For head coach Sean Payton and the Broncos, the realization should have set in that winning the AFC West for a second consecutive season won’t be easy. If this new-look Chiefs squad sticks with the smash-mouth football plan from MNF, it could be a long year for that division. KC’s dominance over the AFC West ended in 2025 with a Patrick Mahomes knee injury and a 6-11 finish.
That was the fewest wins for an Andy Reid-coached team since 2012, which was his last year leading the Philadelphia Eagles. Denver likely won’t have another season where Kansas City isn’t a factor in deciding the division for quite a few years.
Denver’s calling card last season was by far its defense. It was a defense that ranked among the top of the NFL in most major categories. Payton’s defense ranked second (278.2) in total yards and rushing yards (91.1) in 2025, and third in points (18.3) allowed. In Week 1, the Broncos allowed Chiefs running back Kenneth Walker III to gash the defense for 173 yards, averaging 7.3 per carry and scoring a touchdown. Walker also scored a receiving TD.
This vaunted Broncos defense allowed 31 points and 392 total yards. That’s nearly 115 more yards than they gave up on average last season.
“Certainly a slap in the face,” Payton said. “When you come off training camp and your offseason program, it’s one thing to lose in a hard-fought game where you feel like you played well. I don’t feel like we played up to our standard, and certainly that starts with us as coaches, myself. So yes, it’s disappointing. That would be a great way to describe it.”
If Payton is right about one thing, it’s that his team did not play well. Denver looked like a team that was disengaged and wanted to be anywhere else but on MNF in that game. Based on the history of this division over the past decade, 2025 was an anomaly with the Chiefs finishing so poorly. It’s possible the Chiefs might not ever be that bad again for the remainder of Payton’s tenure in Denver, for however long that lasts.
They’ll have to wait until Week 8 to exact revenge on their division rival, but the Broncos will need to quickly lock in and focus on the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 2, followed by the Los Angeles Rams in Week 3 and a trip to the Bay Area to face the San Francisco 49ers in Week 4.
If Denver can’t get back on track, this season could get away from Coach Payton and his Broncos in a hurry.
