The Broncos comeback wins aren’t as much fun this year as they were last year

The Denver Broncos are 4-2 but have trailed at some point in all six games, and the midday show says a Super Bowl contender shouldn’t need a rally every week.

The Broncos are 4-2 and through the hardest part of their schedule. They also haven’t played a single game this season without trailing at some point.

They fell behind early at Kansas City and never recovered. They needed 14 unanswered fourth-quarter points to beat Jacksonville. They trailed the Rams 16-0 at halftime. They lost to San Francisco after falling behind, needed late plays to beat a winless Chargers team and went to overtime to beat Seattle on Thursday night. Even the wins have come from behind.

Last season, that was part of the fun. The Broncos trailed in 15 games and came back to win 12 of them on the way to the AFC’s top seed and an AFC Championship appearance. On a recent edition of “Dover and Cecil” on 104.3 The Fan, fill-in host Aniello Piro said that feeling hasn’t carried over.

“Last year it was like, ‘Oh yay! Come from behind! This is awesome! Yeah they’re clutch!’ Like, this year, it’s just a little sickening,” Piro said.

He made clear he wasn’t complaining about the results.

“And sickening not ’cause they’re winning. Obviously that’s a great thing. But it’s like, you wanna see this team put together a complete game,” Piro said.

That’s the difference between this year and last year. In 2025, the Broncos were a young team that was ahead of schedule. Every comeback felt like a sign that something was being built, and nobody expected them to win easily. This year, the expectations are different. Denver came into the season as the defending AFC West champion with Super Bowl aspirations, and teams with that goal are supposed to beat good opponents without needing a late rally every week.

Piro pointed out that the Broncos have shown they can do it.

“‘Cause I’m thinking back to last year. Dallas, Cincinnati. Those are the two games that I can kind of think of off the top of my head, where they just flat out dominated. Right? They ran away with it,” Piro said.

Those games showed the version of the Broncos fans want to see more often: an offense that builds a lead, a defense that protects it and a fourth quarter that doesn’t require anyone to hold their breath. Six games into this season, Denver hasn’t had a game like that.

The reason isn’t hard to find. The offense ranks 31st in the league in yards per game and 26th in scoring. Bo Nix just had the second-worst passing game of his career against Seattle. The Broncos keep falling behind early because they can’t sustain drives, and they keep winning late because the defense and special teams make enough plays to give the offense a chance. Mark Schlereth said this week that without the defense, Denver would be 0-6.

Piro said the comebacks were fine for last year’s team, but this team should be held to a higher standard.

“And we like the comebacks, and it’s a fun rollercoaster ride, and your heart rate gets up, but that was fun for last year. For a team with the Super Bowl aspirations that this year’s squad has, you’d like it to maybe be just a little bit more easier,” Piro said.

The schedule gets easier now that the opening stretch is over, and that gives Denver a chance to show it can win comfortably. A game where the Broncos lead from start to finish would say more about this team than another overtime win.

Comebacks still count as wins, but they get harder to pull off in January. Piro wants to see Denver build leads now so it doesn’t have to rely on late rallies in the playoffs.

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