Nobody in Broncos Country needs to be reminded about how the elite tag team of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and head coach Andy Reid have run roughshod over the AFC West since 2016.
The Chiefs' domination across the past decade has been like watching a ghastly horror movie on repeat, especially with Denver then in quarterback purgatory after Peyton Manning rode in his final rodeo.
The times may be changing, however. Just ask NFL Media's Jeffri Chadiha, who recently predicted that the divisional crown will slip from the Chiefs' head in 2025 -- and the Broncos will be the ones to snatch it.
"The Chiefs have reigned over the division since 2016 and they've barely been challenged during most of the years that quarterback Patrick Mahomes has been under center," Chadiha wrote Thursday. "Most of that success comes down to the Chiefs' greatness but they've also been helped plenty by the ineptitude of the teams sharing the AFC West with them. Kansas City has been led by future Hall of Fame coach Andy Reid during that entire run of dominance."
For far what seemed like too long, Mahomes and Reid were given a significant leg up in the division by the sheer ineptitude of front offices elsewhere. All of which created a revolving door for head coaches on the Las Vegas Raiders, Los Angeles Chargers, and the routinely rudderless Broncos, at least until Sean Payton arrived in town.
Now that a trio of heavyweight coaches proliferate the West, Chadiha opined that hunting as a pack will inflict fatal damage on the Chiefs, and the Broncos will end up escaping with the bulk of the spoils.
"Every other team in the division has had at least four different head coaches within that same stretch," he wrote. "That churn appears to have slowed, though, with Pete Carroll (Raiders), Jim Harbaugh (Chargers) and Sean Payton (Broncos) now working in the AFC West. Of those three coaches -- all of whom have either reached or won the Super Bowl -- Payton is sitting on the most impressive team aside from the Chiefs."
Notably, Payton has worked wonders this offseason to add several new puzzle pieces, such as safety Talanoa Hufanga and inside linebacker Dre Greenlaw, to help bolster an already stellar defense. He's also trusting fully that ascending quarterback Bo Nix can indeed win a pivotal divisional title, with only his second bite at the proverbial cherry.
Pitching Nix in at the deep end during his rookie audition last season was designed to be a hard-nosed finishing school of sorts, and it worked wonders. Burning heartaches like the blocked game-winning field goal against the Chiefs in 2024 had to be harnessed, and most importantly, be used as positive energy for the upcoming assault on the West.
"The Broncos have an elite defense, and it looks like they landed a franchise quarterback in Bo Nix in last year's draft," Chadiha wrote. "We know Payton can coach up the offense, especially as the Broncos add more playmakers. We've also seen how Denver gave Kansas City fits last season in Arrowhead, with a blocked field goal keeping them from securing an impressive upset. Denver is good enough to win this division now. With the other teams also creating more resistance to the Chiefs -- who went 5-1 in the AFC West after resting their starters in a Week 18 loss to the Broncos -- Denver will earn its first crown since Peyton Manning was their quarterback."
