The Denver Broncos went 14-3 to win the AFC West and earn the conference's No. 1 seed in the playoffs. With second-year quarterback Bo Nix hurting his ankle in the thrilling overtime divisional win over the Bills, however, the team was doomed to fall short vs. the Patriots to get to Super Bowl 60.
In two seasons with Nix playing for coach Sean Payton, the Broncos have gone 24-10, ascending from wild-card entry to division champion. With the Chiefs and Chargers, however, with good teams in the West and the Raiders improving, it won't be so easy to get back to similar postseason positons.
Denver has a high winning floor because of its defense, but has it reached its ceiling with all its improbable close-game victories last season? Here's breaking down the Broncos' loaded follow-up slate.
Denver Broncos schedule 2026
Home opponents: Chiefs, Chargers, Raiders, Bills, Dolphins, Jaguars, Seahawks, Rams
Away opponents: Chiefs, Chargers, Raiders, Patriots, Jets, Steelers, 49ers, Cardinals, Panthers
Every NFL team's 2026 opponents are predetermined. The Broncos' full 2026 NFL schedule with dates, times and TV networks will be updated below when the NFL schedule is announced at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday, May 14.
Week Date Opponent Kickoff time (ET) TV channel
1 Monday, Sept. 14 at Chiefs 8:15 p.m. ABC/ESPN
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Broncos strength of schedule
The Broncos are right in the middle of the pack with the 15th-most difficult schedule based on the combined 2025 winning percentage (.516) of their 2026 opponents. The Chargers did win 11 games last season to contribute plenty to that, while that includes the Chiefs stumbling to 11-6. Overall, the Broncos face nine fellow playoff teams from last season.
Toughest tests: Getting the Bills at home and the Patriots on the road stand out on top of the AFC West half-dozen games. They also need to host the Seahawks and Rams, while travelling to both New England and Pittsburgh. The Jaguars also have room to round out the first-place schedule.
Biggest breaks: There's not much to see here, with the Dolphins at home being by far the easiest game. The Jets and Cardinals on the road are the only breaks away from Denver.
Broncos record prediction
Over/under win total: 9.5
Bottom line: The Broncos had a lot of breaks to finish 14-3 last season, with three more wins than they likely should have gotten based on their play in certain games. Using 11-6 as the real baseline, then, it would make sense that the tougher schedule leads to a slide, but not one that takes Nix and Denver out of the playoffs with Payton.
Record prediction: 10-7