When Broncos have a winning record after 8 games, they’ve never had a losing season

The Broncos also need to get their home-game form

A win over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday is unlikely to spur mass celebration in Broncos Country. Indeed, it’s simply what the Broncos should do — although it’s also what they’ve failed to do in some similar instances in recent years.

It would also ensure the Broncos of a winning record after 8 games, a mark that was the halfway point of the season for all but two strike seasons from 1978 through 2020. With no true “halfway point” — unless you consider halftime of the ninth game to be such — 8 games is still a fair point at which to give a midterm assessment.

And in team history, 8-game form has also meant something more.

0

Number of times the Broncos have had a losing season in their history when posting a winning record in their first eight regular-season games.

In 27 previous seasons with a record above .500 after eight games, the Broncos have always sustained their form enough to avoid a losing record. Twenty-five of those seasons saw the Broncos finish above .500, with two others — 1962 and 1992 — resulting in .500 finishes. Twenty of those seasons ended in the playoffs.

Of course, the Broncos carried a streak of seven-consecutive losing seasons into the 2024 campaign. A win over Carolina and a 5-3 mark would put the Broncos in prime position to change that.

6-6

That’s the Broncos’ home record since Sean Payton took over as head coach — which is not an improvement over 2022, when the Broncos went 4-4 inside Empower Field at Mile High.

Of course, that 2022 team was a dreadful 0-8 in true road games, winning a neutral-site contest at London’s Wembley Stadium over the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Broncos’ improvement has come in their ability to win road games, in which they’re 6-6 under Payton.

“I mean, shoot, you gotta be able to win at home,” wide receiver Courtland Sutton said. “… I think it’s not so much a secret weapon, but that’s one of the things that should be, like, a pillar.”

“… If you win all your home games, shoot, you put yourself in a really good position to go to the playoffs.”

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81.0

Passer rating compiled by opposing quarterbacks against the Broncos defense so far this season. That ranks seventh-best in the NFL, a massive improvement from last year, when Denver was 30th in allowing opposing quarterbacks a 98.0 rating for the season.

Carolina’s Bryce Young has a 71.0 passer rating the last two seasons; this ranks next-to-last among 41 quarterbacks with at least 200 attempts in that span. One spot above Young is Bo Nix with a 74.4 rating, although Nix has an 86.6 rating since Week 3.