The Next Nine Days Will Define the Season for the Denver Broncos

Aug 17, 2014; Santa Clara, CA, USA; Denver Broncos left tackle Paul Cornick (71) defends against San Francisco 49ers linebacker Corey Lemonier (96) in the inaugural football game at Levi

The next nine days will go a long way to defining the season for the Denver Broncos. In that span, they will host two of the better teams in the NFL starting with the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday night. Four days later, the San Diego Chargers come to town for a huge Thursday night game. The winner of that game will take early control of the AFC West.

The game versus the 49ers is one of those that the critics say the Broncos can’t win. The belief is the Broncos are soft and teams like the 49ers will just lineup and out physical them. That narrative is not going away until the Broncos beat a team like the 49ers.

The key for the Broncos will be to not get caught up in the idea that they need to beat the Niners at their own game. The Broncos need to be themselves and be better at what they do than the 49ers are at what they do. The Broncos are at their best when they are in their three wide receiver offense and letting Peyton Manning pick apart a defense.

If they try to run the ball and prove that they can win playing the way the 49ers play, then they are going to lose. The Bronco made a mistake earlier this season when they lost in overtime to the Seattle Seahawks. They listened to everyone who told them that if they were going to beat the Seahawks, then they were going to have to line up and be more physical.

The Broncos tried that in the first half and were down 17-3. It wasn’t until the second half when the Broncos were forced to throw the ball that they got back into the game. There’s a huge misnomer out there the Broncos lost the Super Bowl because they could not run the ball. That’s flat out not the case. The Broncos lost the Super Bowl because they could not protect Manning.

The Broncos will beat the 49ers if they use the pass to set up the run and stay in the no huddle offense.

The schedule makers did not do the Broncos any favors with the schedule. There’s no way a team should have to play on a Sunday night and then have to come back and play a huge divisional game on a Thursday night. Thursday night games are tough enough but the Broncos are losing five hours of preparation time by having to play on Sunday night.

The Chargers are likely to come into that game at 6-1 and looking to take control of the division. The Broncos are going to have to show some mental toughness to win that game. They are going to be coming off of a physical game with the 49ers but they cannot afford a home loss to the Chargers, not this season.

Both the Broncos and the Chargers are headed for double-digit win seasons and the division will likely be decided by the two head-to-head meetings.

There’s a lot of season left after these two games but the Broncos can make a huge statement if they can find a way to be 6-1 on October 24^th.