The 2023 NFL Season was a mediocre year for the Denver Broncos. They went 8-9 and missed the playoffs for the eighth straight year. Looking back, however, it became an important moment in time for this franchise.
The 2022 Disaster Class
It’s hard to talk about the 2023 Broncos without bringing up the 2022 team. Before that season, Denver traded a king’s ransom for Russell Wilson. Before he even played a snap, they offered him a five-year, $245 million extension in addition to his initial two-year, $51 million contract.
The Broncos were hoping that Wilson was going to save a franchise that desperately needed a quarterback. After Peyton Manning’s retirement, they started 10 quarterbacks from 2016-2021. None of them led to a playoff berth and were all viewed as below average in their play.
Denver also hired Nathaniel Hackett, the most sought-after offensive mind, as he helped Aaron Rodgers win back-to-back MVPs in 2020 and 2021. It felt like the Broncos were ready for a new regime under Hackett and Wilson. It lasted less than a season.
The 2022 season became a disaster as Denver won just five games. Hackett was fired after the 15th game, when they got blown out on Christmas Day, 51-14, by a Los Angeles Rams team without Matthew Stafford on the field. The offense ranked dead last in scoring at 16.9 points per game.
The 2022 debacle was somehow a step back from what the team received from quarterbacks such as Trevor Siemian, Drew Lock, and Teddy Bridgewater. Denver became the laughingstock for overpaying their quarterback. It all looked hopeless, then came the 2023 NFL season.
Learning To Win
The Broncos hired Sean Payton in February 2023. A coach who was highly successful in his tenure with the New Orleans Saints. In 15 years there, Payton went 161-97 overall with a Super Bowl victory over a great Indianapolis Colts team in Super Bowl 44.
It’s clear that the team needed a sense of direction after the disastrous 2022 season. Payton also brought in former Broncos head coach Vance Joseph as defensive coordinator. He was ready to stamp his imprint on the team.
Roster-wise, the team remained the same. Wilson was the starting quarterback, and the rest of the positions faced minimal turnover. This regime will be more successful, right?
Initially, not exactly. Denver began the season 0-3, with one of the losses being a 70-20 loss to the Miami Dolphins. That was the low point.
Fans wanted DC Joseph gone and were ready to even move on from Payton. The next few weeks didn’t go much better, as the Broncos started the season 1-5, with the most recent one being to the Kansas City Chiefs. At that point, they had beaten them 15 straight times.
It felt like the 2023 season was going to be a repeat of 2022. The next stretch, however, was an empowering moment for the franchise and its history. Denver somehow rattled off five straight victories.
The most notable one was a 24-9 victory over the Chiefs at home. Yes, that same defense that gave up 70 to Miami was beginning to stiffen up. In the very next week, they beat the Buffalo Bills 24-22 on the road. The defense once again was the catalyst as they forced four turnovers.
All of a sudden, there was a bit of hope. In the week after, the Broncos beat the Minnesota Vikings 21-20 to get to 5-5 on the season. Was the team elite? No. Was the team necessarily even good? Not really.
What Denver had, though, was an identity. They were going to play stout defense, and the offense was going to win the game in the fourth quarter. Sound familiar?
The Broncos were 6-5 at one point, but they couldn’t sustain the momentum and finished 8-9. It was clear that Wilson wasn’t the answer, and the team as a whole wasn’t quite ready to make a playoff run.
After the 2023 NFL season, Wilson was cut, and Denver was ready to draft a quarterback in the 2024 NFL Draft. They drafted Bo Nix with the 12th overall pick, and the rest, up till this point, is history.
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End Of My 2023 NFL Season Rant
What the 2023 NFL season did was set a foundation. Yes, the year itself was’t particularly successful. Denver was 8-9 and middle of the pack offensively and mediocre defensively according to the numbers.
For those who watched the 2023 games, though, understand the true importance of that five-game win streak from 1-5 to 6-5. That stretch showed fight, an identity, and a team that finally believed in its coach.
The Broncos’ defense showed promise; the offensive line was ranked top 10 according to Pro Football Focus, and the skill positions were solid. All Denver needed to do was make minor upgrades in those areas and go get a young quarterback.
The Broncos got their young quarterback in Nix. Denver broke the playoff drought by sneaking into the playoffs in 2024, won the AFC’s top seed in 2025, and was one game away from the Super Bowl.
The resurgence story of the Broncos cannot be written without the 2023 NFL season.
