The 7-2 Broncos can’t be killed and keep finding ways to win

The Denver Broncos are 7-2 and heading into their bye week, and the case against them keeps coming down to the same impossible demand: Play a perfect game.

On a recent Victory Monday, Zach Bye and Phillip Lindsay tried to explain a team that has now won an NFL-record 16 straight one-score games. Their answers overlapped in one place. The Broncos survive outings that should sink them.

Perfect or nothing

Lindsay’s takeaway was blunt.

“The single biggest takeaway is the Denver Broncos cannot be killed,” he said.

His reasoning is that opposing teams string together three strong quarters and then fade in the fourth. Against Denver, that isn’t enough. He listed the Chiefs, Rams, Bills and Bears as teams that would have to clear the same bar.

“If you don’t play perfect football against the Denver Broncos, you’re not beating them,” Lindsay said.

He admitted he can’t say why Denver finishes better than anyone. His best explanation is that these players click at the right moments and the best of them make the biggest plays.

Bye reached for horror movies. He once put the Broncos logo on Michael Myers, and his point was that the team keeps coming back. The numbers he cited back the feeling: Bo Nix’s winning percentage when trailing by one to eight points in the fourth quarter is 92 percent over two years, against 29 percent for the rest of the league.

A team that doesn’t add up

Bye’s counterpoint to his own praise is that the Broncos don’t always make sense. He said he picked them over the Seahawks on a Seattle radio show while conceding Seattle was better in several areas.

“Sometimes the Denver Broncos just also don’t make sense,” Bye said.

Lindsay made the same point through the schedule. Nobody he knew had Denver at 7-2, he said, because every opponent in the first six games had a real shot at the playoffs. The opener, he said, was a disaster. Then the Broncos refocused and won again in tight games, this time against tougher teams.

Better, not finished

Neither host oversold the offense. Bye noted that it generated more than 300 total yards and 27 first downs against the Carolina Panthers, and called it a third straight step in the right direction. His caveat was that they haven’t arrived.

Lindsay agreed and went further. He liked the early field position and the scoring drive that followed a Carolina three-and-out. He thought a more creative run game could have produced a touchdown instead of points on the first drive. He saw Nix setting his feet and playing with more confidence.

“Is he a perfect player? Heck no,” Lindsay said.

What the rest turns on

For now, the guys are happy to enjoy the rest. Bye noted that a Buffalo loss in Minnesota would’ve put Denver back at No. 1 in the AFC. That didn’t happen, but Lindsay pictured a team coming off a bye feeling like a Super Bowl contender.

The question hanging over that optimism is whether an offense that is improving every week can catch up to a team that already knows how to win late.

Disclosure: This article was transcribed from our original audio content and edited for readability with the assistance of generative AI. The article has been reviewed by our editorial team prior to publication. Please watch or listen to the clip above for the full segment.

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