Heading into the 2026 NFL season, the Denver Broncos are on a short list of favorites to win the Super Bowl, and that is with good reason. The Broncos, forced to use their backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham in the AFC Championship Game, were moments away from playing in the Super Bowl last year.
This offseason, the team has experienced little roster turnover while also adding Jaylen Waddle to the wide receiver group through a trade with the Miami Dolphins.
The Broncos will have a golden chance to return to the doorstep of the Super Bowl again this year, and the organization is making no secret of the belief that this team will do just that. However, there are several reasons to legitimately question whether this team can overcome the hurdles that will be placed in their way this season.
What are those hurdles? Let's take a look.
AFC West will be tough
The Broncos won the AFC West last season, becoming the first team other than the Chiefs to do so since 2015. But that took a down year for the Chiefs, which included a season-ending injury suffered by Patrick Mahomes.
The Chargers hung with the Broncos for most of the season and beat them in the only head-to-head matchup where both teams were playing to win the game. The Raiders were the Raiders.
In 2026, the Raiders will still be the Raiders, though they are a team on the rise. The Chiefs will have Mahomes back and with Andy Reid still on the sidelines, they will be playing with a major point to prove. The Chargers figure to still be quite good and the addition of Mike McDaniel as their offensive coordinator could be a key factor.
The Broncos will have a tough time repeating as division champions and it will be much more difficult to win it this year than it was last year.
One-score victories
NFL games often come down to the last possession and sometimes even the final play of the game, making one-score differences very common. The difference between teams that are good in those situations and teams that are lucky in those situations can be an extremely thin line.
Last season, many critics felt the Broncos were just lucky, as they went 11-2 in one-score games. Those 11 wins tied an NFL record for a single season.
The Broncos will have to look no further than the Chiefs to see how quickly this can change. In 2024, the Chiefs were 12-0 in games decided by one score or less, including the postseason. Last season, those same Chiefs went 1-9 in those same one-score games.
First place schedule
Winning the division one season brings great challenges the next. As the defending AFC West champs, the Broncos will be faced with a first-place schedule in 2026. And that schedule, particularly the first six games, is brutal.
It's easy for Broncos Country to look at that slate and predict 13 wins or more, but how realistic is that?
Bo Nix's ankle
The ankle that Bo Nix broke in the divisional playoff game against the Buffalo Bills last season is something that the Broncos have downplayed all summer, and will likely continue to do so. All signs point to Nix returning to the field in Week 1 and being ready to go. But it's hard to ignore the words that Sean Payton put out there himself. Could this become an ongoing issue?
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