The Broncos held the line, held serve and now hold the cards in the AFC West.
Sean Payton’s team beat Kansas City 28-24 in dramatic fashion on Sunday afternoon at Empower Field to move to 6-2. In the process, Denver took first place in the division for the first time this season after spliting the series with the Chiefs.
Now it’s a wide-open race. The Broncos have won four straight and have one game left before their bye week.
Here are 7 thoughts on the victory.
1. The Broncos are in terrific position and now have a gut-check call to make as the trade deadline approaches
Sean Payton’s team is suddenly rolling. Primed for a run after navigating a brutal opening eight games.
The Broncos didn’t exactly put on an offensive clinic Sunday against the division-rival Kansas City Chiefs — they were more timely than terrific — but they managed three touchdown drives in a row for the second straight week, and only the third time this season.
There is a lot the group still isn’t doing well.
The Broncos have missed 39 of 48 third-down tries since Sean Payton took play-calling back from offensive coordinator Davis Webb.
They ran the ball better at times against a stout Chiefs defense, but still overall managed just 3.3 per carry on 23 attempts.
They scored 28 points but did so on just 294 offensive yards.
They have, generally speaking, moved in the right direction since Payton took over the play-calling and yet nobody through eight games can watch this group and think it’s in the upper echelon — or even the upper half — of the NFL.
“We still have a lot of things to fix,” Payton said.
Now, with the division race wide open and Denver’s Super Bowl aspirations very much alive, the club faces a gut-check question this week: Does it have what it needs offensively to mount a run? Or do the Broncos need to swing a trade for a play-maker in the next nine days?
The answer may not be as clear as it seems for a team that entered Week 8 averaging 20.6 points per game, the No. 25 mark in the NFL.
After all, Denver could make a compelling argument for essentially standing pat.
Their problem so far has largely been that the players they’re counting on to generate consistent offense haven’t played well enough or produced enough big plays.
It’s one thing to add a player in the middle of the season, knowing there’s going to be a ramp-up period, likely several weeks, before the true impact can be felt.
It’s another to consider who that player is going to replace. Jaylen Waddle and Courtland Sutton are stalwarts, but they have not produced anything near their career norms or what was expected of them so far this season. The Broncos have veteran starters on the offensive line and they also have reserves who have worked, in most cases for years, to be next in line.
Then there’s running back, which is the wild card not just because of what the Broncos have on their roster but also because of a couple of the names potentially available via trade.
Matter of fact, leave it to CBS broadcaster Jim Nantz to set the scene.
Late in the first half, Nantz and partner J.J. Watt got to talking about Indianapolis star running back Jonathan Taylor as Denver pushed the ball into the red zone against the Chiefs.
“There’s been a lot of talk around the league that Jonathan Taylor might get traded,” Nantz said. “Denver is one of the teams, they say, is on the shortlist of five. And I bet, knowing Sean Payton, he wanted today to see what he has in this rookie, Coleman.”
The Broncos have inquired about Taylor, a source told The Post, though the club does due diligence on all kinds of players throughout the NFL calendar.
Plus, what Nantz said is not exactly a report that Denver is going to push its chips all in for Taylor after beating the Chiefs, though it’s at least worth noting that he and Watt sit in pre-game production meetings with Payton just as they do with head coaches every week.
But Nantz’s summation of where the Broncos and Payton find themselves is a fair one, whether the target is Taylor or some other offensive playmaker.
So, here’s a starting point after Sunday: It’s pretty clear Denver will like what it saw from Coleman against the Chiefs.
He touched the ball 15 times (11 carries) and finished with 104 offensive yards and a touchdown. He’s got juice, as Payton said last week. He can break tackles. He’s got good vision. He has soft hands. His 51-yard catch-and-run, followed by a 5-yard, go-ahead touchdown run late in the fourth quarter, put an emphatic stamp on his day.
He is a player on the rise. A player who is just starting to get into rhythm after missing four games on injured reserve with an ankle sprain.
Jonah Coleman (20) of the Denver Broncos flies through the air before getting stuffed at the goal line by Alohi Gilman (17) of the Kansas City Chiefs during the second quarter at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colorado on Sunday, November 1, 2026. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
It is not exactly this simple, but the three games he’s been featured in, he helped salt away a win against a really good Jacksonville team, provided explosive plays in a 30-16 win against Arizona and then was Denver’s most consistent offensive producer against the Chiefs.
“We knew he had game from the first day he walked in the building,” right tackle Mike McGlinchey said of the fourth-round pick.
And yet, J.K. Dobbins hasn’t had the same pop so far this season. RJ Harvey is out at least the next three games.
A player like Taylor, regardless of how good an impression Coleman has made the past two weeks, is a different conversation entirely.
Payton, interestingly enough, referenced multiple times earlier this season the kind of trades that change the course of a star veteran player’s career.
That came when the Broncos faced Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford and San Francisco star running back Christian McCaffrey — each traded from moribund franchises to Super Bowl contenders long after becoming established stars — in back-to-back weeks over late September and early October.
Those trades altered the players’ careers and the trajectory of the teams they joined. Stafford’s happened in the offseason, of course, but McCaffrey was a deadline acquisition.
McCaffrey had more injury issues than Taylor over his first five seasons in the NFL but averaged 1,300 total offensive yards per year and was younger when he got traded for four picks — second, third and fourth-rounders plus a future fourth — to San Francisco in 2022.
Taylor would be a similar case for whoever acquires him if he moves in the coming days.
The 27-year-old back has averaged 1,266 rushing yards over his first six seasons in the NFL and is off to another great start this year. He’s never played in the postseason.
At the same time, the competition for his services is undoubtedly steep. The Broncos already parted with major draft capital this spring in acquiring Jaylen Waddle and they currently sit at less than $5 million in cap space.
Those factors don’t make a massive deal impossible for Denver, but they do matter.
So does Coleman.
So does, heart of hearts, where Payton and general manager George Paton believe Denver’s offensive shortcomings begin.
Is it because the team doesn’t have enough playmaking ability? Or has some combination of Nix’s slow start, the play-calling shake-up and temporary under-performance at other spots conspired to cause most of Denver’s problems?
It’s also worth noting that Taylor is far from the only player out there. Plenty of other skill-position players could end up available. At running back alone, Tennessee could explore dealing Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears. Perhaps New Orleans’ Alvin Kamara — aging but one of Payton’s favorite players of all time — will end up available. Breece Hall has missed the past five games with a quad injury and just signed an extension with the New York Jets this summer, but Braelon Allen is ascending there and the Broncos loved Hall in the past. They know a lot about him, including because running backs coach Lou Ayeni recruited him out of high school.
There are receivers to evaluate, too, and perhaps a handful of tight ends, though another complication for the Broncos may be that their biggest need — Sunday production from Adam Trautman and Nate Adkins aside — may not line up with available options on the market.
All of that, however, matters far less for the Broncos if the braintrust believes the club on its way to righting the ship offensively in a more sustainable way.
Scoring 58 points over the past two weeks certainly doesn’t hurt in that regard, even if not all the underlying metrics are quite as pretty for a team with experience up and down its lineup.
So, stay or hit? They’ve got a little more than a week — and one more game if they want it — to decide.
Troy Franklin (11) of the Denver Broncos celebrates drawing a pass interference call from Kristian Fulton (8) of the Kansas City Chiefs during the first quarter at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colorado on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
2. Troy Franklin has developed an attribute that will keep him in the NFL for a long time
When the Broncos moved up in the 2024 NFL Draft to draft Troy Franklin, they did so because of his explosive play-making ability. He was a big play machine for Oregon in college and generated many of them with Nix as his quarterback.
The usual learning curve applied.
Franklin had to learn life in the NFL in every way, from Payton’s complex scheme to a full route tree to tasks as simple as getting to the huddle after nearly every play and getting to the right split efficiently.
In Year 3, though, the native of East Palo Alto, Calif., has shown another budding element of his game: He’s willing to do the dirty work.
That wouldn’t have been the first thing you’d think of in Franklin’s game as a prospect, but it’s tough to deny now.
A week ago, Franklin was 60 yards downfield, trying to block the only two Arizona defenders who could have stopped Nix around the goal line at the end of his 62-yard touchdown run.
“I was just trying to get a long arm and get (the first guy) out of there, then once I wasn’t worried about him, then just tried to get in the way of the other guy to where Bo could make a move and get into the end zone,” Franklin told The Post. “Soften him up a little bit.”
He also had a hand in two of Denver’s biggest plays Sunday against the Chiefs.
First, Franklin motioned across the formation on fourth-and-goal from the 2 and ran his route precisely, getting in the way and drawing attention from Chiefs safety Chris Roland-Wallace.
Broncos had to have it on 4th down and they got it!
Jaylen Waddle for 6 🐧
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— NFL (@NFL) November 1, 2026
That gave Jaylen Waddle the edge and left him wide open in the flat for a touchdown.
Then on Coleman’s 51-yard catch-and-run, Franklin influenced two Chiefs defenders. He was running across with safety Chamarri Conner in coverage and appeared to screen him at least a bit once Coleman had the ball. Then he popped safety Alohi Gilman, too. Coleman cut behind Franklin’s work and broke into the open field.
JONAH COLEMAN DOWN TO THE 4
KCvsDEN on CBS/Paramount+
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/nRd1e0xIhC
— NFL (@NFL) November 2, 2026
“We make sure when we get done with film that we go and talk to the guys who have been blocking,” right guard Quinn Meinerz said. “We block Level 1 and Level 2 on the offensive line, but when those guys dig out Level 3, that’s when explosives happen. For him to see Jonah get the ball and start blocking down the field, it’s a team effort, always.”
Franklin isn’t a dominant run blocker, but given his relatively slight frame, he’s consistently put on strength over the course of his career and is willing to stick his nose in and give effort.
That’s not a strength of Denver’s receiving corps overall, especially with Pat Bryant on injured reserve, which makes Franklin’s efforts all the more important.
“That’s an underestimated thing for sure, but it really comes down to effort, mostly, and a little bit of technique,” Franklin said. “I’m trying to just find ways to stay on the field and being good in the run game, that will help me.”
Head coach Sean Payton of the Denver Broncos stands in the rain during the third quarter of the Broncos’ 28-24 win over the Kansas City Chiefs at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colorado on Sunday, November 1, 2026. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
3. Sean Payton’s teams always seem to find a way to go on a run. This year’s version is here.
There are many ways to measure Sean Payton’s success over 3.5 seasons in Denver, but one feat stands out: his team mounted a winning streak of at least four games in each of his three seasons here.
Don’t look now, but the Broncos are putting together another.
Sunday against the Chiefs marked four straight again for the Broncos — so now four straight years for Payton — and they’ll have a chance to extend that further.
The Broncos are early 2.5-point road favorites against Carolina before hitting their bye week. Coming out of that, they’re easy picks to be favorites in four of their first five — two against Las Vegas plus Miami at home and the New York Jets on the road — with the lone exception being a Black Friday trip to 6-2 Pittsburgh.
Payton likes to say any team that wins a division or earns a premium postseason seed typically needs to reel off several wins in a row at some point during the season.
In 2023, Payton’s Broncos stormed from 1-5 to 6-5 to get back in the race before losing at Houston and watching their postseason hopes go out the window.
In 2024, the run came later in the year. Denver went from 5-5 after a devastating walk-off loss to Kansas City at Arrowhead Stadium to 9-5 and on the precipice of ending their postseason drought.
Last year, of course, the Broncos started the season 1-2 before reeling off 11 straight wins, not only winning the AFC West but capturing the No. 1 seed in the process.
How long will this one go?
Malcolm Roach (97) of the Denver Broncos sacks Patrick Mahomes (15) of the Kansas City Chiefs on the final play of the game during the fourth quarter of the Broncos’ 28-24 win at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colorado on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
4. An underrated piece of Denver’s goal-line stand against the Chiefs
It not only changed the course of the AFC West race this season, but it also featured three consecutive standout plays from guys not typically considered stars on the Broncos’ defense.
Pat Surtain II, the 2024 defensive player of the year and multiple-time All-Pro, got the closing sequence started with a heck of a tackle on Kenneth Walker, so plenty of star power there.
On the next snap, though, Mahomes looked like he had the angle to run the ball into the end zone. Standout nickel Ja’Quan McMillian did a good job taking away Xavier Worthy with sticky coverage, but that’s just the first act of any play for Mahomes.
What looked like a route to the pylon quickly turned into a road to nowhere when second-year outside linebacker Que Robinson closed in on Mahomes in a flash.
It’s not the first time Robinson has shown terrific closing speed. He did the same against Drake Maye in the AFC title game and has flashed it at times this season, too. But if he doesn’t make Mahomes throw the ball away, it’s possible the outcome is different.
Then JL Skinner, who entered the game after two snaps of defense this season and 56 in his career, stuffed Walker for no gain on a punishing hit.
Finally, it was defensive lineman Malcolm Roach, who began his career as an undrafted run-stuffer for Payton in New Orleans, who sacked Mahomes to end the game.
Roach has not just settled into being Zach Allen’s interior rushing partner, he’s caught a heater in the process.
Roach now has nine quarterback hits in the past three games and he’s up to 3.5 sacks on the season. That’s just a half sack short of his career best, set last year.
That’s getting it done for a group that played the second half without both of its starting safeties and had Allen playing at what looked like less than 100% after he was listed as questionable with a hamstring injury entering the game.
Emmett Johnson (10) of the Kansas City Chiefs hauls in a pass from Patrick Mahomes (15) before scoring a touchdown during the second quarter against the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colorado on Sunday, November 1, 2026. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
5. A talented pair of young backs that will be going head-to-head for a while
Whatever the Broncos do or do not do at the trade deadline, it’s pretty clear the team has a good young player in Coleman.
So does Kansas City have a rookie impact back in fifth-round pick Emmett Johnson?
Funny enough, the Broncos liked both in the pre-draft process.
Payton raved about him before the Chiefs won the first matchup of the season, 31-10.
“We just felt like he was one of those guys that was in that cluster,” Payton said of Johnson and a group of Day 3 backs. “Real good speed, balance. He checked a lot of boxes, so he was a highly regarded player.”
On Sunday night, the Denver coach also threw San Francisco’s third-rounder, Kaelon Black, into the mix of players the club liked down the draft board.
“We loved Emmett,” Payton said. “The 49ers drafted one that we really liked. We felt this was a good running back draft and I’m not even talking about those guys that went early. (Black), the player that Kansas City took, all of those guys have good tape and different type runners.
“Exciting backs that are going to play a long time in this league.”
Johnson tormented the Broncos in the passing game Sunday, catching five passes for 128 yards, including a 73-yard touchdown.
In fact, one of the more remarkable stats from a remarkable game: The three longest plays from scrimmage were completions to rookie running backs.
After the 73-yarder came Coleman’s 51-yard catch-and-run and then a 38-yard completion to Johnson.
A couple of players who likely are going to be going at it against each other for years and years to come.
6. The victory marked Payton’s 200th career regular-season win
The head coach got emotional after the game when asked about the feat.
Payton is just the 12th head coach in NFL history to reach the milestone and only five — Don Shula, George Halas, Bill Belichick and Paul Brown — did so in fewer games than the 320 it took Payton.
“You just think about the teams, the players, everyone involved,” Payton said. … “It’s all the people, all the players, all the wins.”
Payton said he talked with the team before the game about the ups and downs of a career, including the 2012 season he was suspended for after his role in New Orleans’ BountyGate scandal.
“I said, ‘I was away in 2012. They tried to kill me.’ Couldn’t talk to anyone. It was crazy. Couldn’t talk to anyone, alright?
“(In) 2022, (I did) the network stuff. Every one of us at some point has to get off this thing, but you don’t want to. We’re all better having been on it than never at all. So, I’ve been fortunate to have been a part of a lot of good players and a lot of good organizations. People that make that happen.
“It was emotional. The timing of the game and then everything else. I’m screaming at Vance one second and then I’m hugging Vance and shaking Andy (Reid)’s hand. There’s nothing like it.”
7a. A few quick-hit stats to wrap this thing up:
The last play of the game kept a wild streak alive for the Broncos
Denver now has multiple sacks in 21 straight home games. They nearly didn’t hit that mark, sacking Mahomes just once in his first 40 drop-backs. But then came fourth-and-goal from the 6 and a terrific job by Broncos edge rushers Jonathon Cooper and Nik Bonitto of collapsing the pocket.
7b. It’s early for scoreboard watching, but the impact of beating the Chiefs almost cannot be overstated. According to NextGenStats, Denver now has a 64% chance of winning the AFC West. With a loss, that number would have plummeted to 24%. Not only that, but Denver’s chances of winning Sunday, according to NGS, fell to 11.2% in the final three minutes of regulation before the Broncos stopped them and drove downfield to take the lead.
7c. Broncos kicker Wil Lutz made all three of his extra points on Sunday and now has made 113 straight. That is a new record for NFL kickers since 2015 when the league moved the extra point distance back. He surpassed Justin Tucker’s mark, who signed this week to Kansas City’s practice squad.
7d. Alex Singleton is on some kind of run. He had 14 tackles and a sack Sunday to follow up 19 tackles and a sack las week against Arizona.
That made him the first player since 1998 and just the third since 1987 to record 14-plus tackles and a sack in consecutive games. The other two: Michael Barrow in 1998 and Ray Lewis in 1987.
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