The Broncos open their 2026 season in prime time at Arrowhead Stadium, and a vast majority of Broncos Country believes the visiting team will walk away the victors.
A whopping 89% of fans votingin this week’s Reacts Pollbelieve the Broncos will march into one of the toughest stadiums to play on the road and beat the home team.
Love that confidence.
The only real debate is over how big the margin of victory will be, with 58% predicting a win of seven points or more and another 31% choosing a much closer
contest.
Still love that confidence…even if I can’t quite bring myself to believe in a 7+ point win.
Hopefully the Broncos players are not as overly confident since they will face a healthy Patrick Mahomes who cannot wait to step on his home field.
Broncos’ defensive coordinator Vance Joseph is ready for that.
“I think Patrick is going to be Patrick. In my opinion, he wouldn’t play if he couldn’t be himself. He’s had a good summer and spring to kind of rehab and from what I hear and from what I read, he’s feeling great,” Joseph said. “So we expect Patrick to be Patrick, and he is obviously the guy in the league who wins an awful lot. He’s obviously motivated, and it’s a big game for them, it’s a big game for us obviously. It’s Week 1 so everyone’s healthy and excited to play, so we’ll get his best shot.”
No matter how ready the Chiefs are, Sean Payton is also confident in his 2026 Broncos to get the job done, especially with a little more experience from many in the locker room.
“I think it’s a smart team. I think there is … still that hunger for coming up short,” Payton said of carry over from the 2025 season. “So I would also say leadership, the culture, those types of things. Ultimately any good team begins to get taken over by the leaders within the locker room. I feel like that experience can serve this team well.”
It’s also at Arrowhead, which is no walk in the park.
Thankfully it’s Arrowhead in September — and not November as the Broncos seem to usually draw — but prime time should have both fan bases in prime form, and that will make for an electric atmosphere.
Bo Nix is 100% ready for that.
“Absolutely it doesn’t get old [playing on Monday night]. It’s very exciting. It means that you are in a really good spot as an organization, but it’s also a great responsibility,” Nix said. “You get put on Monday Night Football in Week 1, it means you have something to go out there and prove. We’re excited as a team. It’s going to be a really big challenge, but one that we are going to respond well to. We just have to go out there and play really hard.”
