Expectations were sky-high for the Denver Broncos entering the 2026 NFL season. Many claimed the team would have made the Super Bowl had it not been for a freak injury to Bo Nix in the postseason. The team's quarterback was back to action for the Week 1 game against the Kansas City Chiefs, and the roster as a whole looked much improved because of the trade for Jaylen Waddle.

Despite that, the Broncos were one of the biggest disappointments of the opening week of action. The team was blown out by the Kansas City Chiefs by a score of 31-10. The offense couldn't get anything going at all. Nix, in particular, didn't look like his normal self, and Waddle only had two yards. What has been touted as one of the best defenses in the NFL was even worse, too. The team struggled to make tackles, and a supposed dominant pass rush got very little going despite the Chiefs being without their starting left tackle. Head coach Sean Payton was understandably disappointed in his team's effort. 

“Certainly a slap in the face,” Payton said when asked if the loss was a wake-up call. “When you come off training camp and your offseason program, it's one thing to lose in a hard-fought game where you feel like we played well. I don't feel like we played up to our standard, and certainly that starts with us as coaches, myself. So yes, it's disappointing. That would be a great way to describe it.”

The Broncos will look to bounce back against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 2, another great team coming off a big win. Hopefully, the team's struggles were a one-time fluke, but another subpar performance would raise some serious red flags in Denver.