Few people saw the Denver Broncos' 14-win campaign coming in 2025.

Yeah, the Broncos won 10 games the year prior with a rookie Bo Nix, and made the playoffs as a wildcard team, but they were quickly eliminated from the tournament by the Buffalo Bills in Upstate New York. At that point, though, just making the playoffs was a triumph, after Denver had gone eight straight years without qualifying for the postseason.

The Broncos knew that if they were going to truly become a force to be reckoned with in the conference, they'd have to knock the Kansas City Chiefs off their eight-year perch as AFC West champions. That meant the Broncos had to take care of their own business and when they went head-to-head with the Chiefs, they had to prevail.

And prevail Denver did, sweeping the Chiefs for the first time in more than a decade. Patrick Mahomes suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 15, but Chiefs had already been eliminated from the playoffs. Several weeks before, the Broncos beat a desperate Mahomes-led Chiefs team at Mile High, signaling a changing of the guard.

The Broncos would finish the season 14-3, profitting greatly from an 11-game winning streak. Denver unseated the Chiefs as AFC West champions and earned the No. 1 playoff seed in the AFC, and even exacted some revenge on the Bills in an epic 33-30 overtime win in the divisional round.

We all know how the 2025 season came crashing to a quick and brutal end with Nix's ankle injury. But fast forward to 2026, and the Chiefs are back, sitting at 5-1 going into Week 8.

Meanwhile, the Broncos are 5-2 with the chance to pull away as division leaders if they can vanquish the Chiefs at home on Sunday. Some fans hoped that Kansas City's unraveling last year was a sign that the worm had turned, and that the Andy Reid dynasty was over, but Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton knew the Chiefs' identity was still intact.

"Honestly, they're just a really good team, well coached," Sutton said on Wednesday. "They've got a lot of talent over there. The things that they did for such a long time, that identity is still there."

A New Identity

At the same time, the Broncos have forged their own identity. Since Sean Payton arrived as head coach, the tide has turned against the Chiefs.

Payton snapped Kansas City's 16-game winning streak over the Broncos in 2023 with Russell Wilson as his quarterback. In 2024, the Nix-led Broncos split with Kansas City and nearly swept them, were it not for a freak blocked field-goal attempt at the end of regulation at Arrowhead Stadium.

Last year was it's own thing, with the Broncos not only sweeping their long-time division rival, but the Chiefs also missing the playoffs for the first time in the Mahomes era and only the second time since Reid became head coach. Like two ships in the night, as the Chiefs were going one way last year, the Broncos were headed the other direction, and along the way, a winning identity of their own took shape in the Mile High City.

"We know that we have put together a really good team over the past few years, and for us to get to the top of that mountain last year, we understood that we had to knock off who was already up there, and they were the team that were up there," Sutton said.

Proving it Was No Fluke

The Broncos won the AFC West crown in 2025, but according to Sutton, that hasn't changed their mindset as a underdogs. In the Broncos' quest to repeat as division champs, the Pro Bowl receiver doesn't feel like the NFL world is giving them the respect they deserve.

"For us to get that reign last year, I wouldn't say that it's changed our philosophy. I think that we have the right mindset of, 'Hey, yes, we may have won the division last year, but there still doesn't feel as if there's this respect of the Broncos are a really good football team,'" Sutton said. "I think people still think that we rode off a high and there was this fluke of what happened last year."

During the 2026 offseason, the talking points on the Broncos shifted dramatically around the NFL. They were viewed as a bona fide contender, and often ranked as one of the most talented teams in the league.

However, amid Nix's early-season slump and the offense's failure to launch, the NFL world quickly started selling their stock on the Broncos and seemingly writing them off. While it's true that the Broncos have fielded a championship-caliber offense yet, it's important to remember just how tough their initial six-game schedule was, with games against the Chiefs, Jacksonville Jaguars, Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco 49ers, Los Angeles Chargers, and Seattle Seahawks.

Nix and the offense didn't play consistently well, but Denver kept winning. The Broncos weathered that gauntlet at 4-2 — which was about as well as anyone expected — and after beating the Arizona Cardinals on the road last week, they're now sitting at 5-2 with the chance to get even with the Chiefs and pull ahead in the division.

"So for us, it's, 'Hey, we've got to show up each week and go show everybody and prove to ourselves that we are who we say we are at the end of the day, and that last year wasn't a fluke. It wasn't just a flash in the dark,'" Sutton said.

Ten Toes Down

The Broncos haven't lost to the Chiefs at home since Payton became the head coach. And while people may still be doubting the Broncos, Sutton and company are focused on standing their ground at home, and sending the message that last year's AFC West title wasn't an anomoly.

"It's one of those things that we have to go stand up and stand on ten toes that we are who we say we are, week in and week out," Sutton said. "And this weekend it's against the Chiefs, a divisional game."

For the first time since Nix came to town, the Broncos were blown out by the Chiefs in Week 1. That 31-10 loss stung, not only because it came at the hands of the Chiefs, but also because it was under the bright primetime lights of Monday Night Football.

The Broncos are fully aware of their failure to launch in that game, and it sounds like they're relishing the opportunity to balance the scales in their Week 8 rematch with the Chiefs.

"I know that we have the character and the fight in that locker room to go out there and perform how we want to perform," Sutton said. "We know that we didn't like how we performed last time, but with it being a divisional game, we know that we've got to show up."

The Takeaway

Suffice it to say, this iteration of Broncos-Chiefs is going to be a heavyweight bout. The Broncos have a lot to play for, including the division lead, while the Chiefs are coming off their first and only loss of the season.

Mahomes is undefeated against the Broncos at Arrowhead Stadium, and you know he'd love to get back in the win column at Mile High for the first time since 2022, and really signal to Chiefs fans and the NFL that Kansas City is back in the AFC West driver's seat.

Nix is a different quarterback at home. He was out of sorts in that ugly Week 1 loss, but a lot of water has passed under the bridge since then, and his confidence surrounding his ankle recovery is at a season-high after romping for a 62-yard touchdown last week and connecting on several explosive passing plays.

Week 8's action is going to be an epic AFC West throwdown.