Broncos continue to climb in Week 11 NFL Power Rankings

The Denver Broncos are 8-2 and still control their own destiny to win the AFC West for the first time in a decade. While things haven’t looked pretty on offense and special teams as of late, all that matters is that they continue to keep winning, as their seven-game win streak is tied for the longest in the NFL (New England).

In the latest NFL Power Rankings for Week 11, the Broncos moved up another spot following their ugly win over the Las Vegas Raiders. They were helped out by an embarrassing loss by the Buffalo Bills, and now sit at No. 8 on the list heading into Sunday’s pivotal showdown against the Kansas City Chiefs.

The newest Power Rankings heading into Week 11 👀 @Energizer pic.twitter.com/rKhxDXGHSV

— NFL (@NFL) November 12, 2025

For the rest of the division, the Chiefs dropped to No. 7, the Chargers rose to No. 11 and the Raiders dropped to No. 28.

Denver is much lower than the other teams who are atop the league, as the other five teams with only two losses (Seattle, LA Rams, New England Indianapolis, Philadelphia) are all in the top six (6-3 Detroit is No. 5), but slow-playing them ahead of Sunday’s gut-check is the right call. The offense has been way too inconsistent outside of the games against Dallas and Cincinnati — two of the worst defenses in the entire league — and has people around the country wondering if this team is like the 2020 Steelers or the 2022 Vikings, two teams that were good in the regular season but instantly bowed out in the playoffs.

On the flip side, this defense is arguably the best and most dominant in the league, and is the reason why this team is still in the top 10. Led by Nik Bonitto and Zach Allen, Denver’s defense has recorded 46 sacks this season, 14 more than the second-place Seahawks. Their sack differential of +35 is currently the fourth-best mark among any team since 2000, right behind last year’s Broncos and the 2020 Steelers.

Part of that is due to how quickly Bo Nix escapes or gets rid of the ball when he drops back to pass, an issue that has caused him to miss some open receivers down the field on longer-developing routes. Sean Payton said that the issue of having a sped-up clock is easier to fix than others, but it’s costing the Broncos chunk plays week in and week out.

If the Broncos want the respect of the rest of the league — something they don’t have a lot of at this point in time — they need to go out on Sunday and take down Kansas City with the whole country watching. If they can’t do that, then they’re going to drop in these rankings and have a lot of people calling them Wild Card exits.

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