5 reasons the Denver Broncos won’t make the playoffs

The Denver Broncos may be Super Bowl champions, but here are five reasons they won’t make the playoffs this season.

Expectations were high for the defending Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos coming into this season. Though Peyton Manning retired, his play in his final season was poor and many assumed the drop off from him to a new starter wouldn’t be significant. The Broncos returned much of their league-leading defense from the year prior and most assumed they would be able to ride it into the playoffs again. Currently, many of those people appear to be right. Denver is 6-3 and holding on to the AFC’s second Wild Card spot. However, there’s reason for skepticism in the Mile High City. The Broncos shouldn’t be assumed to be a playoff team at this point in time.

5. 6-3*

At one point this season, the Denver Broncos Super Bowl-winning defense looked strong. They defeated the Panthers, Colts, Bengals and Buccaneers en route to a 4-0 start. Three of those squads were supposed to make up the upper class of the NFL, and these were considered impressive wins. Many assumed the Broncos to be of the highest class in the AFC, though less people probably think that now. Since their 4-0 start, Denver has gone 2-3 and has looked like an average football team.

Currently, the only team with a winning record the Broncos have beaten is the Texans. In other words, Denver’s 6-3 record isn’t as impressive as it looks when you take into account the teams it’s played. The Denver Broncos are simply an average team this year and they haven’t done much to show otherwise. They should get credit for beating teams with bad records; their record has them sitting in good position in Week 9. But Denver hasn’t been playing 6-3 football, and should consider itself lucky to be in the position it’s currently in.