The Denver Broncos were no one’s idea of a Super Bowl contender two years ago.
Stumbling to an 0-3 start in 2023, they allowed 70 points in a game, the third most ever scored in NFL history. There was so much trader’s remorse about quarterback Russell Wilson — whom the team had acquired to great fanfare less than two years earlier — that they benched him and later agreed to eat $85 million of his contract.
By that season’s end, the Broncos had missed the playoffs for the eighth consecutive year.
In a sign of how quickly fortunes can flip in the parity-filled NFL, Denver (12-2) now boasts one of the league’s best defenses, a quarterback it believes in and an 11-game winning streak. And after Sunday’s 34-26 win against Green Bay, a team with its own credible aspirations of a deep playoff run, the Broncos have become the Super Bowl contenders no one saw coming even midway through last season.