"In order to be the best, you have to beat the best" seems to be the motto for the Denver Broncos when it comes to beating past Super Bowl winners.
“Two years in a row, we beat the Super Bowl team, and that’s not easy to do," coach Sean Payton said last week.
With their win over the Seattle Seahawks
in Week 6, the Broncos have actually now beaten the previous season’s Super Bowl winner in four consecutive seasons.The trend started in 2023, coach Sean Payton's first year in the building when the Broncos snapped a 16-game losing streak against the Kansas City Chiefs with a 24-9 win when Russell Wilson was still under center.
It carried over to the next season when Denver played a "win to get in" game against the Chiefs, although KC rested their starters
in Denver's 38-0 victory, which helped propel the Broncos into the playoffs for the first time since 2015.
Last fall, Denver went on the road to beat the Philadelphia Eagles, who were on a win streak of their own at the time, in a 21-17 comeback victory in the City of Brotherly Love.
Last week, it took regulation, some amazing defense and Wil Lutz's heroics and then some to beat the Seahawks, as the Broncos struggled mightily on offense in the second half.
We have beaten the previous Super Bowl Champ each of the last 4 years 😎 pic.twitter.com/8kDWg1tCo9
— Karsen 🐎 (@Broncos4six) October 16, 2026
Running back J.K. Dobbins spoke on the difficulty of trying to beat a team that’s also trying to repeat as champions.
“It's the Super Bowl champions,” Dobbins said. “They got a great defense. They adjusted. That's a good defense. ... That's part of being in the NFL and part of playing these great teams with great defenses. They adjusted, and they did a good job."
After the Broncos started 4-2 through the first six games of the season, they are now placed well in the AFC playoff picture heading into Week 7. Can the Broncos be a team that is hunted, rather than doing the hunting in the very near future? We'll soon see.
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This article originally appeared on Broncos Wire: Broncos have beaten defending Super Bowl champions in 4 straight seasons
