Broncos must keep foot on the gas as race for AFC’s No. 1 seed will be competitive

Six teams in the AFC, including the Denver Broncos, have two or fewer losses on the season.

That’s a pretty remarkable stat and shows the race for the No. 1 seed in the conference will be as competitive as ever.

And earning the top-spot comes with multiple advantages.

First, whichever franchise lands the No. 1 seed only has to win two games to go the Super Bowl, while everyone else has to prevail in three.

And those two contests will both be at home no matter what — the No. 1 seed doesn’t have to travel until the Lombardi Trophy is on the line, a massive leg up.

We know last year it took the Broncos going 14-3 to earn the AFC’s top spot and it might take something similar this season.

Denver is currently the No. 2 seed at 7-2, while the Bills are riding high at 7-1 after their win over the Vikings on Monday Night Football.

The Jaguars, Steelers, Chiefs and Bengals are all 6-2, setting up an interesting playoff picture at the moment.

9 weeks in, 9 weeks to go ‼️ pic.twitter.com/C4JCMN8ZYX

— NFL (@NFL) November 10, 2026

Right now, the Broncos would host the Patriots in the wild-card round, while Jacksonville would take on Cincinnati and Kansas City travels to Pittsburgh.

But Denver still controls its own destiny, welcoming in Buffalo on Christmas Day. It should be an epic rematch of what many felt was the game of the playoffs last year, a 33-30 Broncos victory in OT.

Is it too early to scoreboard watch? Perhaps. But with Denver on a bye this week, Broncos Country wouldn’t mind seeing some upsets.

If the Jets could somehow top the Bills, that would be awesome. Same with the Falcons over the Chiefs and Titans over the Jaguars, although none of those feel likely to happen. The Bengals and Steelers will do battle on Sunday Night Football for control of the AFC North.

We’ve got a long ways to go and the tiebreakers could get messy, but at the end of the day the Broncos need to keep winning.

That starts on Nov. 22 when they host the Raiders, a team that traded QB Kirk Cousins to the Vikings and is handing the keys to No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza.

To see the full playoffs standings, click here.

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