Broncos drop out of top 10 in this week’s NFL power rankings

The Denver Broncos have a lot of questions to answer three weeks into the NFL season. They’re 1-2 with two back-breaking losses against the Indianapolis Colts and Los Angeles Chargers and haven’t been playing the level of football that most people expected them to play heading into the season.

Bo Nix has missed some crucial throws, the defense — outside of Nik Bonitto — has been average after there were talks that it could be the best unit in the league this season, the penalties have continued to put them in poor situations, and they haven’t established an identity on offense.

The orange and blue had multiple chances to put the game away in Los Angeles last week, but some conservative play on the offensive side of the ball wasn’t able to push the lead to two scores, and Justin Herbert was able to orchestrate a comeback to give the Chargers a third straight win over Denver. The Chargers established themselves as a team that could make some noise in the AFC, while the Broncos walked back to the locker room with the same story playing.

Since the start of the 2024 season, Sean Payton’s squad is 2-8 in one-score contests and 1-10 against teams with at least a .500 record. For a team that wants to win a Super Bowl, something that Payton and Nix harped on in the offseason, those are two stats that simply won’t get it cut.

The Broncos’ most recent power ranking also reflects a team that’s not ready to compete for a Super Bowl, as they dropped out of the top 10, and ended up in the middle of the pack at No. 14. Only two other teams, the Atlanta Falcons (15 to 22) and the Houston Texans (17 to 23) dropped more than Denver. The Broncos are grouped up around the Seattle Seahawks, Minnesota Vikings, and Pittsburgh Steelers. That tier of teams have the ability to make the playoffs and potentially win a Wild Card game, but are still not at the same level of the league’s top teams.

For the rest of the division, the Chargers skyrocketed all the way to No. 4 on the list. They’ve quickly become the team that many thought the Broncos could be entering the season, and are getting the respect they deserve. Herbert is playing like an MVP and the defense has been stout through three games. The Chiefs stayed pat at No. 11 after their win over the New York Giants in which they had Russell Wilson in a box all night, and the Raiders dropped down to No. 26 after their offense put up another poor performance.

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