Broncos vs Chiefs Week 1 Preview: Denver Is the +3 Underdog Again

Denver opens the 2026 season Monday night at Arrowhead as a three-point underdog, and Kevin, John and Adam are not having it. The Postgame Podcast has no game to review yet, so this one is a full offseason wrap and Week 1 Chiefs preview — the matchups that decide it, the roster questions still open, and why this Kansas City team may be the most overrated three-point favorite in football.

The crew digs into a Chiefs roster that got worse, not better: a rebuilt secondary missing its top cornerbacks, a Patrick Mahomes coming off a late-season ACL tear, an aging skill group, and left tackle Josh Simmons fighting a back injury that could hand Nik Bonitto a backup tackle to feast on. On the Denver side, it's Davis Webb's first game calling plays, a third straight season with the same starting offensive line, Jaylen Waddle joining Courtland Sutton and Pat Bryant, and the one number that could swing the whole season — the dropped passes that led the entire league over the last two years.

Plus the show's 11-year anniversary, Sean Payton's 5-1 record against Kansas City, JK Dobbins' "pinky promise," the Marvin Mims Jr. contract-year problem, and why Adam takes every Vegas line personally.

Key Topics

• Broncos open as +3 underdogs at Arrowhead — and why the crew is embracing Bo Nix's "Overdogs" label instead
• Why Kansas City didn't improve this offseason: rebuilt defense, top cornerbacks gone, skill players a year older
• Kenneth Walker III's contract, his playoff run, and holding him under 3.5 yards per carry
• Patrick Mahomes coming back from a late-season ACL tear, and Travis Kelce a year older
• Chiefs left tackle Josh Simmons' back injury and what a backup tackle means for Nik Bonitto
• Sean Payton is 5-1 versus the Chiefs in three years, with a three-game win streak — the "blocked field goal" era is over
• Davis Webb as a first-time play-caller: the biggest wild card of the season
• Getting Evan Engram actually involved after a quiet 50-catch season
• Third straight year with the same offensive line, plus the depth chart behind Bolles, Powers and Quinn Meinerz
• The dropped-pass epidemic: Denver led the league by a wide margin over two seasons, and what a 20% improvement would mean
• Wide receiver room: Jaylen Waddle, Courtland Sutton, Pat Bryant as the clear No. 3, and the Marvin Mims Jr. contract-year squeeze
• Running backs: JK Dobbins' 17-game promise, RJ Harvey, Jonah Coleman and the third-down question
• Edge rotation without Jonathon Cooper: Jonah Elliss, Que Robinson and Dondrea Tillman
• Under-center runs, fullback usage, and a tight end room where Nate Adkins is the wild card
• 11 years of the show, plus rivalry talk: Chiefs euphoria versus Raiders soul-soothing

Join the community at broncosandbourbon.com

• Lifetime membership is $1 one time — it goes up to $5 at Week 1 kickoff
• The Pick'Em Challenge is live, with weekly prizes and a season-long grand prize
• Game-day chat, the man-cave photo wall, and the shop page for gear

Where to find us

• Postgame Podcast — Mondays at 8:00 PM MT (next Monday we go live at 5:15 PM MT for full live game coverage of Broncos vs Chiefs)
• Bourbon, Broncos and No B.S. flagship show — Tuesdays at 7:00 PM MT
• Pregame Podcast — audio only, with David, Jared and Scotty
• Tailgate Talk — one hour before kickoff
• Halftime Hash — at the break

Broncos vs Chiefs kicks off Monday, September 14 at 6:15 PM MT on ABC/ESPN.

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy