Broncos rise in latest NFL power rankings

Another week of football is in the books, which means that it’s time for the latest set of NFL Power Rankings. For the Denver Broncos, they had a strong performance in Week 4, as they beat the shorthanded Cincinnati Bengals 28-3, and jumped up to No. 12 in the power rankings, up two spots from the week prior, as a result.

Six of the top seven teams in the power rankings are from the NFC 👀 @Energizer pic.twitter.com/dDTFwznriC

— NFL (@NFL) October 1, 2025

The No. 14 ranking the Broncos had after suffering their second consecutive last-second defeat was the lowest they had since the draft back in April. Many people, both at the local and national level, have thought very highly of the team throughout the offseason and into the first quarter of the regular season, but they haven’t quite played like the dark-horse Super Bowl contender that some people thought they could be.

Through four games, Sean Payton and his squad have handled two inferior teams, and let victory slip through their hands against two formidable opponents. They could’ve easily had a 4-0 record by now and sat atop the AFC alongside the Buffalo Bills, but because they couldn’t put away either of those games in the fourth quarter, they’re now right in the middle of the pack at 2-2 alongside some teams that they are better than.

Denver is the fifth-highest AFC team on the list. The Bills are No. 2, the Chargers No. 8, the Chiefs No. 9 and the Colts No. 10. With a somewhat easy stretch of games on the horizon following this weekend’s road contest against the defending champion Philadelphia Eagles, the Broncos could easily jump back into the top 10 in the NFL power rankings and establish themselves as a top three or four team in the conference.

The five games following Philadelphia are: vs. the Jets, vs. the Giants, vs. the Cowboys, at the Texans and vs. the Raiders. Denver could very easily go 5-0 in that stretch and have a 7-3 or 8-2 record heading into a home contest against the Chiefs two weeks before Thanksgiving.

The last team in the AFC West, the Las Vegas Raiders, found themselves at No. 28 on the list, down two spots. The division is clearly a three-horse race, a race that the Chargers are winning, but the Broncos are right in the thick of it.

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