The Denver Broncos are making it known they are the frontrunners in this division with an undefeated record of 5-0 and a three game lead. The Kansas City Chiefs continue to fall back, and the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders lose ground with their losses in Week 5.
This week brings about some interesting matchups and big tests for these AFC West teams. Now is the point in the season where teams either need to step up, buckle down, and win games or be classified as pretenders for the season.
Here’s a look at this week’s AFC West matchups.
Denver Broncos at Cleveland Browns, Sunday 1:05PM EST
The defense is undoubtedly the Broncos strongsuit, keeping them in close games and making crucial plays to seal the victory.
Denver may be 5-0, but their offense is not that of a 5-0 team. Peyton Manning looks off and the offense doesn’t seem to have the same rhythm it did over the course of these past three seasons.
The Bronco offense greatly struggled against the Oakland Raiders last week. It was the defense who came up with a timely pick six that helped lead the Broncos to a 16-10 victory.
Denver has played in many close games thus far this season, but this week’s matchup should be one or more dominance by Denver.
The Browns are 2-3 and have been competitive thus far, but it’s time for the Broncos to step up.
They have struggled against some of the lesser teams in the league, which is unlike them, and this is an opportunity for them to get on track offensively.
Cleveland has a poor run defense and the Broncos run game is pretty much nonexistent, an improvement they need to make moving forward.
Defensively, Denver should shine yet again, against this Cleveland offense.
Final Score Prediction
Broncos 27 Browns 17
Kansas City Chiefs at Minnesota Vikings, Sunday 1:05PM EST
The Chiefs are in panic mode at 1-4 with division hopes slipping away week by week.
KC has underperformed and has lost a few heartbreakers they should have won, including last week against the Chicago Bears.
The Bears marched downfield to make it 18-17 last Sunday, as they took this one from KC, two dramatic finishes in a row for Chicago.
Alex Smith and company can’t seem to catch a break, and it’s about to get worse with the Jamaal Charles injury.
Charles tore his ACL and is out for the season.
The running back was the Chiefs biggest ignitor on offense, and without him things are looking bleak for this offense.
This week they face the 2-2 Vikings, who have played tough this year in a few close games that resulted in losses.
For the Chiefs, it will be interesting to see how things unfold with the loss of Charles and how they react.
Final Score Prediction
Chiefs 10 Vikings 21
San Diego Chargers at Green Bay Packers, Sunday 4:25PM EST
Like the Chiefs, the Chargers have lost a few tough games this year, and last week was no exception as they suffered a 24-20 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday Night Football.
The Steelers have been forced to start Michael Vick with Ben Roethlisberger’s injury, and Vick made timely plays to help lead the Steelers to victory.
Philip Rivers and the Chargers were happy to have Antonio Gates back, but his return wasn’t enough to lift them to victory.
Gates caught his 100th career touchdown last week in his return.
This week the 2-3 Chargers look to move on, but it doesn't get any easier with the undefeated, 5-0 Packers in Green Bay.
Aaron Rodgers is a machine, and not even the injury to Jordy Nelson can slow down this offense. He and James Jones have lit up the offense with explosive plays.
This could be a very long day for the Chargers secondary as they will have to stop one of the best offenses in the league, and one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game.
Offensively for the Chargers, they will be busy protecting Rivers from the pass rush and Clay Matthews as they try to give him enough time to make throws and create plays.
The Chargers have struggled this season and this game isn’t in their favor.
Final Score Prediction
Chargers 13 Packers 31