Broncos riding win-streak to first place in AFC West, but Chiefs lurking

The Denver Broncos are red hot.

Winners of five games in a row after smacking the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, the Broncos remain in first place in the AFC West.

Their 6-2 mark has them as the current No. 3 seed in the conference, trailing the 7-1 Indianapolis Colts and the 6-2 New England Patriots based on a tiebreaker.

If the playoffs started tomorrow, Denver would host the No. 6 seed Los Angeles Chargers at Empower Field at Mile High.

Unfortunately, it’s not just the Broncos who are rolling right now. The 5-3 Kansas City Chiefs have won three games in a row and five of their last six. K.C. will visit Denver on Nov. 16 in what is shaping up to be a huge game. The two teams will also play on Christmas night at Arrowhead. Both those games will help settle who ultimately wins the division.

The Broncos schedule on paper doesn’t appear to be that daunting. They’ll visit the struggling Houston Texans this weekend followed by the horrendous Las Vegas Raiders on Thursday Night Football. There’s a real chance Denver is 8-2 when the Chiefs come to town.

However, they’ll have to navigate this stretch without star cornerback Pat Surtain II. It remains to be seen if he’ll go on injured reverse, but the reigning Defensive Player of the Year will miss some time with a pectoral injury. Broncos head coach Sean Payton will hopefully share more details about Surtain’s status on Wednesday.

Regardless, the Broncos are in a good spot. Having a home playoff game (or two) would be a nice change of pace from what we’ve seen the last decade.

To see the full NFL standings, click here.

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