Many have been waiting week after week for the Denver Broncos to reveal themselves as frauds and not find a magical victory escape hatch in the fourth quarter of every game.
And those Denver doubters will have to keep waiting.
Maybe, just maybe these 9-2 Broncos are for real.
Full transparency, we are among those doubters. It just seemed improbable that Bo Nix could look so pedestrian for most of every game and still always deliver in clutch fourth quarter moments to rally the Broncos to yet another dramatic win, and yet there he was again Sunday doing it to the mighty (at least once-mighty) Kansas City Chiefs.
We’ll get more into Nix and the Broncos’ eight-game winning streak as we dive into the NFL’s Winners and Losers from Week 11, but first let’s talk about Denver coach Sean Payton.
There are two paths for an NFL coach to cement his legacy and achieve all-time legend status.
The more traveled road is to be great for a very, very long time with one team.
Bill Belichick’s 24 seasons and six Super Bowl wins (9 Super Bowl appearances) with the New England Patriots is the gold standard here. But also think of Tom Landry’s record 29 seasons leading the Dallas Cowboys, with two Super Bowl wins in five appearances. Or Don Shula’s 26 seasons and two Super Bowl wins with the Miami Dolphins on the way to the NFL-record for wins (328 in the regular season, 347 including playoffs). Or Chuck Noll’s 23 seasons and four Super Bowl wins with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Go as far back as George Halas with the Chicago Bears for good measure, and sure, there are others to varying degrees.
(Yes, Belichick and Shula had head coaching stints with other teams, but their legacies are synonymous with one franchise).
Then there are the coaches who do perhaps the even more difficult thing and build major legacies with multiple franchises — (though, lasting as long as Belichick in one place in this era will be hard to top).
To underscore how difficult this is to do, let’s start with the incredible fact that no head coach has ever won the Super Bowl with two different teams. None. But seven have taken two franchises to the Big Game.
Of those, only three or four fit our criteria of achieving legendary status this way.
Andy Reid, of course. He won 130 games in 14 seasons leading the Philadelphia Eagles, including five NFC championship game appearances and one Super Bowl appearance. Then he went to Kansas City Chiefs and somehow has done even better — 148 wins and counting in 13 seasons, seven straight AFC championship game appearances, reached five of the last six Super Bowls, won three Super Bowls and counting.
Then there’s Bill Parcells, who won two Super Bowls with the New York Giants, reached one with the New England Patriots, got the New York Jets to the AFC championship game and then couldn’t quite replicate it one last time with the Dallas Cowboys.
Dick Vermeil got the Eagles to the Super Bowl in 1980, won it with the St. Louis Rams and one of the most iconic teams of the modern era in 1999 and then had two 10-win seasons with the Chiefs.
And Mike Holmgren made two Super Bowls with the Green Bay Packers, winning one, and then got the Seattle Seahawks to one as well, winning at least 75 games with both franchises.
That’s probably the list.
(Dan Reeves lost three Super Bowls with the Broncos and one with the Atlanta Falcons, but after his first run in Denver he had losing records over with the Giants and Falcons. The others to reach Super Bowls with two teams were John Fox, who lost one each with the Carolina Panthers and Broncos, and the aforementioned Shula, who got there with the Baltimore Colts before making his legacy in Miami).
Many other great coaches have tried to replicate their initial success and couldn’t — Jimmy Johnson with the Dolphins, Joe Gibbs in his second stint with Washington, Vince Lombardi in one season with Washington and so on.
All of that is to say that what Sean Payton is now doing in Denver could vault him into a different tier of NFL lore depending on where it goes from here.
Payton won 152 games and a Super Bowl with New Orleans and would have gone down as the greatest coach in Saints history if he never coached again, but ultimately he would have been viewed on the Bill Cowher tier (very, very good, one Super Bowl win and a couple other close calls over a long but not Landry-Belichick-Shula-Noll long tenure).
But Payton is only 61 years old and already has 27 wins and counting in three seasons with the Broncos. Maybe this 2025 Denver team is Super Bowl good or maybe it isn’t, but Payton is still building whatever it is going to become in the years ahead. He’s got a second-year QB in Nix who is inconsistent but flashes in big moments and a defense that is already one of the best in the NFL.
Payton is just 71 regular-season wins away from tying Landry for fifth all-time (250). He’ll need another Super Bowl appearance or two, or to become the first coach to win it all with two teams, but that all seems on the table for Payton.
That’s just some added perspective to what Denver is doing. Let’s get on to the actual Winners and Losers breakdown from Week 11 in the NFL.
NFL Week 11 Winners
BO-mentum
And we’re still talking about those 9-2 Broncos!
Denver’s 22-19 win over Kansas City on Sunday was the strongest statement yet that this team deserves to be taken as a serious top contender despite its weekly tightrope walk routine.
The Broncos didn’t score a touchdown until late in the third quarter and went down 19-16 in the fourth when Patrick Mahomes and Co. delivered a 6-play, 73-yard touchdown drive that looked — based on all evidence to that point — like it could be enough to decide this one. Especially when Denver then immediately went three-and-out.
But the Broncos defense didn’t allow Mahomes to finish this one off, forcing back-to-back three-and-outs itself while following each with a field goal — including another Will Lutz game-winner (from 35 yards) as time expired.
On that game-winning drive, Bo Nix converted on third-and-15 with a 20-yard pass to Courtland Sutton and later hit Troy Franklin for a 32-yard pickup down to the Kansas City 15 to position the Broncos to kill the clock and make the kick.
For those scoring at home, that was Nix’s eighth career fourth quarter comeback in a little more than a season and a half.
That was Denver’s third straight win by three points and the sixth time in seven games they’ve won by four points or less. (Their two lone losses also came by a combined four points).
Bills Fans’ Blood Pressure
Bills fans had a long seven days to ponder the meaning of that embarrassing 30-13 loss at Miami and what it means for their Super Bowl prospects, especially as the team’s third loss in five games.
But reigning NFL MVP Josh Allen let the Buffalo faithful exhale Sunday while racking 6 touchdowns (3 passing and 3 rushing) in a 44-32 win over Tampa Bay.
Allen is the first player in NFL history with two such games like that, having done it in a loss to the Rams last year.
The Bills are now tied with the Chiefs for the third-best odds to win the Super Bowl (+850) behind the Eagles and Rams (both +550), per BetMGM.
TreVeyon Henderson Fantasy Owners (And Sure, The Patriots Too)
TreVeyon Henderson was an early-round draft pick in most every fantasy football league and looked like the biggest fantasy bust for much of the season (he had scored just 1 TD through seven games with a rushing high of 32 yards).
His role started to grow the next two games, and then the last two weeks Henderson has reminded everyone why he was the 38th overall pick in the draft.
Henderson actually scored 5 TDs in the span of five days, rushing for 147 yards and 2 scores on Sunday, Nov. 9, and then following it up last Thursday with 62 yards and 2 TDs rushing plus 31 yards and a TD receiving.
We’re only partly joking making this about Henderson’s fantasy impact. The Patriots continue to be big winners overall, week after week.
New England (9-2) has now won eight straight since a 1-2 start in coach Mike Vrabel’s first season at the helm. With QB Drake Maye a top MVP candidate and Henderson emerging as a game-breaking talent in the backfield, it’s time to buy into this team’s potential in the playoffs.
Bears Believers, Bryce, Brock and Brissett
Yes, more alliterative quick-hitters this week.
Speaking of taking it to the doubters week after week, if you’ve followed our weekly NFL Power Rankings, you know we’ve been as skeptical as anyone about the Bears’ run of success, but it’s now seven wins in eight games after a 19-17 victory at Minnesota on Sunday.
We still don’t put the Bears in the same conversation as the Broncos or Patriots — because those wins came against the Cowboys, abysmal Raiders, free-falling Commanders, uninspiring Saints, Burrow-less Bengals, depleted Giants and now J.J. McCarthy-led Vikings — but first-year head coach Ben Johnson and second-year QB Caleb Williams deserve their due respect at this point.
Let’s be clear — there’s no question the Bears are on the ascent under Johnson. But the best is ahead in the years to come. Merely making the playoffs this year, which is looking exceedingly likely, would be an incredible feat on its own after Johnson took over a 5-12 team.
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The Carolina Panthers and QB Bryce Young are just about impossible to forecast from week to week, but it was the good version Sunday in 30-27 road win over the Falcons.
A week after passing for just 124 yards in a loss to the Saints, Young threw for 448 yards, 3 TDs and 0 INTs this time, breaking Cam Newton’s single-game franchise passing record (432 yards). Go figure.
The Panthers are 6-5, and more than any team in the NFL, it seems they could beat most any team and lose to absolutely any team on a given week.
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QB Brock Purdy made his first start since September for the 49ers and passed for 200 yards, 3 TDs and 0 INTs in a 41-22 win over the Arizona Cardinals. It’s been a rocky road, but the 49ers are 7-4 with the starting quarterback back now.
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Well, Cardinals QB Jacoby Brissett wasn’t a winner in the literal sense as his team lost that game by 19 points, but we have to at least acknowledge that he set a NFL regular-season record with 47 completions (on 57 attempts for 452 yards, 2 TDs and 2 INTs). Wild.
Jags’ Resilience
Give Jacksonville Jaguars first-year coach Liam Coen credit for the coaching job he did this week.
A week ago, the Jaguars gave up 26 unanswered points to give a game away to the Houston Texans and their backup QB. It was the Jags’ third loss in four games with only a narrow one-point overtime win over the Raiders breaking up that stretch.
This could easily have been a team seeing its season slip away after such a brutal way to lose a week ago, but instead Jacksonville came out absolutely dominant in a 35-6 win over the Los Angeles Chargers — earning a 345-135 offensive yardage advantage and 30-8 edge in first downs in one of the most one-sided games of the entire NFL season.
That says a lot about how this team believes in Coen.
Davis Mills’ Agent
The Houston Texans had three wins through their first eight games. In two games with QB Davis Mills subbing in for injured starter C.J. Stroud (concussion), the Texans have won both, including that crazy comeback vs. the Jaguars and a 16-13 win at Tennessee on Sunday.
Mills completed 26 of 41 passes for 274 yards, 1 TD and 0 INTs and will make a third start on Thursday with Stroud still not ready to return.
He’s also assured himself of a long career as an in-demand NFL backup, following the Chase Daniel Track To Generational Wealth playbook.
Cowboys vs. bad teams
Dallas needed this one for sure, and the Cowboys flexed on both sides of the ball in a 33-16 win over the Las Vegas Raiders.
It was the hapless, two-win Raiders, but let the Cowboys and their fans have this one. Dallas is 4-5-1 and can hope that the trade additions of DT Quinnen Williams and LB Logan Wilson help transform this defense even when it’s not the Raiders on the other side of the line.
NFL Week 11 Losers
Mahomes mystique
Umm, what’s going on with the Chiefs?
We’ve batted away Chiefs criticism all season and chalked up to KC fatigue from NFL fans, but now they’re 5-5 after back-to-back losses to teams they could likely see in the AFC playoffs (Buffalo and Denver) — if they even make the playoffs!
We’re not hitting the full panic button, but raising the alert level? Sure.
Mahomes led a Pat-ented go-ahead touchdown drive in the fourth quarter, but with a chance to then put the game away after a Denver three-and-out the Chiefs went three-and-out on their final two possessions to let the Broncos steal the game back.
Mahomes passed for 276 yards but with just 1 TD and 1 INT. He has 4 INTs and has taken 9 sacks over the last three games, and something just looks off.
We’ll still put trust in Andy Reid, Mahomes and Co. to figure it out, but time is running thin.
Justin Fields
OK, this will be the last time he hammer on Justin Fields, promise. But he was officially benched this week, and ESPN’s Dan Graziano reported the move has a lot to do with the Jets’ desire to get a better evaluation on their wide receivers and tight ends — a damning statement on Fields’ passing ability.
Fields threw for just 116 yards in the Jets’ 27-14 loss to New England and has just 1,259 passing yards, 7 TDs and 1 INT in eight games (his success running the ball aside).
Minnesota’s decision-makers
What could the Minnesota Vikings’ leadership have possibly seen behind the scenes to feel confident letting QB Sam Darnold walk out the door to Seattle while turning a 14-win team over to second-year QB J.J. McCarthy?
Because nothing any of the rest of us have seen from McCarthy on Sundays has indicated he is even capable of starting in the NFL.
McCarthy completed 16 of 32 passes for 150 yards, a TD and 2 INTs in a crushing 19-17 home loss to the Bears on Sunday. He’s been held under 160 passing yards in four of his five starts and is completing just 52.9 percent of his passes, which is the worst mark in the NFL this year by a significant margin.
The decision to roll with McCarthy this season has wasted a year of WR Justin Jefferson’s prime and cost the Vikings a shot to make some noise in the playoffs.
McCarthy looks like the latest incarnation of Zach Wilson, and now it just remains to be seen how stubborn the Vikings will be about trying to wait out justification for the first-round pick (No. 10 overall!) they blew on him.
Raheem Morris
Coaches rarely get another chance after two failed head coaching opportunities in the NFL, and that’s the track Raheem Morris is on now.
After 17-31 in three seasons in Tampa Bay from 2009-11, Morris had rebuilt his stock and earned a second chance to be a head coach in Atlanta after initially taking over on an interim basis. But he’s now 15-23 overall with a 3-7 start this year.
Worse, Atlanta is doing that with a talented team with headline offensive stars like RB Bijan Robinson and WR Drake London and a capable defense. The Falcons just have totally blown the quarterback situation, as second-year QB Michael Penix hasn’t looked the part and is now headed for season-ending knee surgery and Kirk Cousins (the NFL’s most expensive backup QB) hasn’t been any better.
This team needs a total reset at QB … and maybe head coach.
Bucs, Burrow-less Bengals and Browns
Another speed round.
It’s probably a function of the injuries (Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Bucky Irving and many more), but Tampa Bay has gone from a 5-1 start to 6-4 and continues to fall short against other playoff hopefuls.
Since a great 38-35 win at Seattle and then beating the Mac Jones-led 49ers, the Bucs have lost to the Lions (24-9), Patriots (28-23) and Bills (44-32) while beating only the lowly Saints in that span. They also lost to the Eagles this season and just don’t seem up to the same level as the rest of the good teams around the NFL.
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QB Joe Burrow was a full participant in practice Wednesday for the first time since his Sept. 14 turf toe injury, but let’s be honest — it’s too late for the Bengals.
They’re 3-7 and lost seven of eight games since Burrow’s injury, and Cincinnati’s defense is unquestionably the worst in the NFL that even the Steelers piled up points in a 34-12 win on Sunday.
Stick a fork in the 2025 Bengals, with or without Burrow.
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We’re not going to beat up on Browns rookie QB Shedeur Sanders. He was put in a tough spot, called off the bench to finish out the game Sunday vs. the Ravens when fellow rookie QB Dillon Gabriel was concussed.
It … didn’t go well, though.
Sanders completed just 4 of 16 passes for 47 yards and an interception as the Ravens completed a comeback and 23-16 win.
Gabriel wasn’t any good either, though, and Sanders will now get a full week to prepare as the starter. Maybe he’ll be better.
Poor Browns fans, though.
Chargers offense line
Injuries have ravaged the Chargers offensive line all season, with both starting tackles now out for the season (with Joe Alt joining that list Sunday after Rashawn Slater was lost for the year in training camp).
It’s no coincidence start QB Justin Herbert had his worst game of the season in that one-sided loss to Jacksonville, completing 10 of 18 passes for 81 yards, 0 TDs and an INT in the 35-6 loss before giving way to backup Trey Lance.
Herbert was actually only sacked twice after taking 11 sacks over the previous two games, but he had no time to operate — per usual.
The Chargers may be 7-4, but it’s hard to see what happened Sunday and think they can make any sort of postseason run.
Cold-weather Goff and ‘Benedict Darnold’
There may not be two better quarterbacks more capable of awful games than Jared Goff and Sam Darnold.
Goff is a much different QB in the comfort of his home dome in Detroit, there’s no question, and when put in adverse weather conditions against a good defense games like Sunday night happen. Goff completed just 14 of 37 passes (for 255 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT) in a stifling 16-9 loss at Philadelphia as the Lions went 0-5 on fourth downs, squandering one opportunity after another.
Meanwhile, on The Bill Simmons Podcast, Simmons and weekly Sunday night cohort “Cousin Sal” tried to come up with a name to explain what happens to Sam Darnold every so often — a legitimately good quarterback most weeks of the season but one who is capable of a complete meltdown like Sunday when he threw 0 TDs and 4 INTs in a 21-19 loss to the Rams.
They debated “Scam Darnold” or “Sham Darnold” as his alter ego, before Simmons took the advice of a listener in his mid-week podcast and decided it has to be “Benedict Darnold.”
Vikings fans who saw their 14-win season blow up in the first playoff game last year, and Seahawks fans after Sunday probably aren’t laughing, but c’mon — that’s clever.