John Elway takes dig at Chiefs, Broncos by picking Chargers in AFC West

By Tre LyDay | May 14, 2018

ENGLEWOOD, CO MARCH 16: John Elway, general manager and executive vice president of football operations of the Denver Broncos and head coach Vance Joseph present quarterback Case Keenum with his jersey with the no.4 on it during a press conference on March 16, 2018 at Dove Valley. Case Keenum agreed to terms on a two-year deal with the Denver Broncos. (Photo by John Leyba/The Denver Post via Getty Images) /

A lot has changed in the AFC West during this offseason, but it seems Denver Broncos general manager John Elway forgot who won the division last year.

The entire AFC West is going to look a little different in the 2018-19 season for every team. New head coaches, new draft picks, new quarterbacks and new players in general. All of those changes might cause a shakeup at the top of the division power rankings.

Still, the general rule of thumb is that the team who won the division the previous year is the team to beat. It seems nobody told Broncos general manager John Elway that.

John Elway was in Omaha talking to reporters and according to The MMQB’s Peter King Elway thinks that the Los Angeles Chargers are the team to beat in the division.

"“They’ve got the settled quarterback, even though the Raiders do too. Looking at it, [the Chargers] may be the ones to beat. As I stand here, looking at it, the Chargers might be the team to beat.”"

You have to hand it to Elway here. The Chiefs have only lost one divisional game in last two years, and the one they lost, the Oakland Raiders needed about a dozen chances on the goal line to punch it in. Not to mention the Broncos haven’t beaten the Chiefs since 2015.

It’s also borderline incredible that Elway didn’t pick his own team to win the division. If you aren’t going with the defending champs, you aren’t taking the squad you built? Yikes.

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In Elway’s defense, the Chiefs are one of those teams that have gone through some big changes this offseason. Patrick Mahomes is taking over at quarterback and their defense is going to look vastly different without Marcus Peters and with Eric Berry returning. In essence, the Chiefs are a wild card, but a very talented one with a history of pounding the AFC West. Over the past four seasons, the Chiefs haven’t lost to the Chargers.

Even with all those changes, if you’ve won the division two years in a row and only lost one divisional game in that same time frame, you’re probably the team to beat.