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Jan 5, 2025; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton during the first quarter against the Kansas City Chiefs at Empower Field at Mile High. Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Sean Payton Comment Signals Strongly That it's Chiefs Week

Originally posted on Denver Broncos on SI
By Chad Jensen | Last updated Nov 10, 2025 3:48 PM ET

Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid is 22-4 (.846) in games played directly after his team's bye. That record stretches back to Reid's tenure as Philadelphia Eagles head coach, and the trend has continued in Kansas City.

Coming out of their bye this year, the Chiefs draw the 8-2 Denver Broncos. It's a game that offers up one contrast of intrigue: the Chiefs are rested while the Broncos have been stretched quite thin after playing 10 straight games, including short-week turnarounds, trips to the East Coast, and even voyages across the Atlantic Ocean.

However, the Broncos at least garnered a mini-bye entering their first game vs. the reigning AFC West Champions, as 10 days will pass between Week 10's 10-2 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders on Thursday night and Week 11's home game vs the Chiefs. In fact, one could argue that the Chiefs will face a Broncos team on the road that is at its most rested point of the season, despite having no bye yet.

Only after Sunday's game vs. the Chiefs will the Broncos finally get their actual bye, which will be accompanied by 14 precious days off. Still, Denver's frantic pace over the preceding two-and-a-half months has at least given Sean Payton's squad the chance to get into a groove, resulting in seven straight victories.

“I was just having this conversation earlier. It’s amazing how quickly it feels like this stretch of six, seven weeks has gone by, and you get in a routine," Payton said via conference call on Monday. "So having this mini [bye] weekend, especially with Kansas City coming off a bye [Week]."

Payton knows well the significance of this game, which is partly why he gave his players three days off after vanquishing the Raiders. He vows to have his team prepared for the Chiefs.

"It’ll be an important game, obviously," Payton said. "It’s a divisional game, and we’ll be ready to go.”

Payton's Special Attention to the Chiefs

Payton has always done a great job of preparing the Broncos to face the Chiefs. Even in Payton's first head-to-head with Reid in 2023 as Broncos head coach, the defense significantly hobbled the high-flying Patrick Mahomes offense, buying Russell Wilson and company some time to fight into the game.

That first Payton-Reid matchup (as Broncos and Chiefs head coach, respectively) ended up being a bitter loss, but the game in Denver later that year had a much different result. The Broncos' defense once again throttled Mahomes, but Wilson and the offense showed up, and Payton snapped Reid's previous 16-game winning streak over the Broncos.

Fast forward to last season, and with a rookie Bo Nix, Payton's Broncos jumped out to an early lead over the Chiefs at Arrowhead. Mahomes eventually battled back, gaining the lead late in the game, only to see Nix operate the four-minute offense expertly, and drive the Broncos down for a game-winning chip-shot field goal.

In one of the most shocking outcomes in the 21st century of Broncos football, Wil Lutz's kick was blocked as time expired, cementing the victory for the Chiefs. Payton again got his revenge at home later on, but it felt a bit more hollow, as it was the season finale and the Chiefs rested their starters for the playoffs.

Still, that finale game against the Chiefs last season came with the enormous pressure of 'win, and you're in,' relative to the Broncos' playoff hopes. Denver was riding an eight-year playoff drought at the point, but Payton ensured his team got it done, not just finding a way to win the game, but utterly demolishing and shutting out the Chiefs' JV squad 38-0.

Biggest Game of the Decade?

Some have called this the "biggest game of the past decade" for Denver. I would concur, only because, in the face of taking a big step forward last year, winning 10 games, and making the playoffs, the Broncos still couldn't stop the Chiefs from winning their ninth straight division crown.

This year, the Broncos have put themselves in position to win the division, independent of their head-to-head matchups with the Chiefs. If Payton can figure out a way to duplicate his results from his first two seasons in Denver and vanquish the Chiefs at home, it'll take some of the pressure off that brutal Christmas Day matchup at Arrowhead Stadium.

Of course, the Los Angeles Chargers continue to stack up the wins, and they'll have a part to play in the divisional conversation, which makes the last two games on the Broncos' schedule all the more intriguing. The Broncos play the Chiefs on the road on Christmas in Week 17, then home to rematch the Chargers in the regular-season finale.

Either one of those games could be for all of the divisional marbles, but the Broncos can help their outlook tremendously by dispatching the Chiefs at Mile High this week. In the face of those stakes comes Reid's stellar and rather daunting post-bye record.

But it's not as if Reid has never lost a post-bye game. The Broncos aim to add one more defeat to his post-bye bottom line.