It was a good run, AFC West.
The Kansas City Chiefs were already two games behind the Denver Broncos in the divisional race through Week 10, which made the Week 11 matchup between the rivals a must-win for K.C. if they had aspirations of yet another title. Instead, the [Chiefs laid a large collective egg](https://arrowheadaddict.com/winners-and-losers-from-chiefs-miserable-week-11-collapse-in-denver-01ka7h6qfz61) on Sunday, and the Broncos enjoyed a 22-19 win at home.
For those who've missed the last decade, the Chiefs have won nine consecutive AFC West races—yes, nine. That's an insane run of supremacy that's pretty much neutered any talk of a real "rivalry" with the Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Chargers, or Las Vegas Raiders. Instead, other conference foes like the Buffalo Bills and/or Cincinnati Bengals have entered the chat as "teams fans are actually concerned about."
The torch is being passed in the AFC West for the first time in a decade.
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But alas, something has shifted in 2025. The Chiefs aren't that good, and the rest of the conference is that wonky. The Broncos now sit at 9-2 with a three-game lead over the Chiefs. The Chargers also lost on Sunday to the Jacksonville Jaguars, which means Denver has a healthy lead over everyone else. At this point, the AFC West is theirs to lose.
[Per Next Gen Stats](https://x.com/NextGenStats/status/1990230138953564250), the Broncos now have a 74 percent chance to win the AFC West with seven weeks in the regular season remaining. The Chargers, who are 7-4 and in second place, have a 16 percent chance. The Chiefs, who, again, have led the division every year since 2015, have a 10 percent shot to take the lead. As for the Raiders, don't ask.
The good news for the Chiefs is that they have one game remaining against every divisional opponent, which means they have the ability to reclaim at least _some_ ground going forward. Unfortunately, they still have tough non-divisional games ahead—including Week 12 against the Indianapolis Colts—and too little runway left to make such a leap. Yet even if they did, it's also true that there's no proof they'd even be able to pull it off.
The Chiefs just aren't playing good football. They've had decent stretches against limited or pitiful oponents, but those gasps have only earned them a middling record. The Broncos, meanwhile, have put the competition in the rearview mirror and look positioned to take over the AFC West for the first time in a decade. It feels weird, but as they say, all good things must come to an end.