The Denver Broncos 2026 regular season schedule has been announced and we’ve got a lot of ground to cover on this one. The schedule makers were either very unkind or this is just how life is when your team is the reigning top seed in the conference. It has been quite a while since we’ve experienced that kind of ride here in Denver.
In this post, we’ll cover the good, the bad, and the ugly. There was certainly a bit of all three here with this schedule release. We’ll address each in the order they
appear on the schedule, which means, Ugly is up.
The Ugly
Weeks 1-6 are about as brutal of a stretch as I’ve ever seen on a Broncos schedule. Every single one of these teams made the playoffs last season, except for the Kansas City Chiefs and that team will always be somewhat dangerous when Patrick Mahomes is out there.
- Week 1, 9/14: Broncos at Chiefs (MNF)
- Week 2, 9/20: Jaguars at Broncos
- Week 3, 9/27: Rams at Broncos (SNF)
- Week 4, 10/4: Broncos at 49ers
- Week 5, 10/11: Broncos at Chargers
- Week 6, 10/15: Seahawks at Broncos (TNF)
The worst part of this stretch is the last two games. The Los Angeles Chargers and Denver Broncos always play tough, physical games and then to have to turn that around on a short week to play the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks is absolutely brutalizing.
Frankly, if Denver can get through this stretch of games at or above .500 then we have to chalk that up as a major win because the Good comes right after.
The Good
The good part of the schedule is a very long stretch of games encompassing most of the rest of their season. After that mini-bye in Week 6, the Broncos get some breathers on the road against teams few expect to be playoff teams with a home game against a rival in between and then a bye week.
- Week 7, 10/25: Broncos at Cardinals
- Week 8, 11/1: Chiefs at Broncos
- Week 9, 11/8: Broncos at Panthers
- Week 10, 11/15: BYE WEEK
- Week 11, 11/22: Raiders at Broncos
- Week 12, 11/27: Broncos at Steelers (Black Friday)
- Week 13, 12/6: Dolphins at Broncos
- Week 14, 12/13: Broncos at Jets
- Week 15, 12/20: Broncos at Raiders
They absolutely have to win those first three, but then five after that are all winnable games too. It’s unlikely they win all these games, but it isn’t outside of the realm of possibility either. I’ll be disappointed if they do worse than 6-2 during this stretch.
The Bad isn’t that bad, but more of a meh or eh. Even so, it could be bad if it goes bad.
The Bad
As much as I hate playing on or around Christmas Day due to family obligations, it seems Denver playing on Christmas is what Thursday Night Football is to the Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions. This matchup too could end up determining Denver’s entire season.
- Week 16, 12/25: Bills at Broncos (Christmas Day)
- Week 17, TBD: Broncos at Patriots
- Week 18, TBD: Chargers at Broncos
That AFC Divisional playoff rematch against the Buffalo Bills could decide the Broncos fate in both the AFC West and the conference as a whole. There might be no bigger game on their schedule, but that’s because I lowkey think the New England Patriots are frauds and their Super Bowl berth last year didn’t sway my opinion one iota.
That said, I could see the Broncos going 2-1 in this final stretch. That would give my average record prediction at 11-6, but if they outperform just a little then they could easily push back into #1 seed territory again in 2026.
What do you think of the Good, Bad, and Ugly of the Broncos schedule? I’m somewhat happy that its very divided into three parts. Sometimes you get multiple tough stretches, but getting it all out of the way at once its kind of nice. Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
