The NFL has officially announced the Broncos 2019 schedule, along with the rest of the league, and it looks like the road to the playoffs in 2019 will be a brutal one.
You can find the entire 2019 league schedule here, but here are a few notes on each individual game for the Broncos and their schedule as a whole.
The Broncos will both start and end the season with a matchup against Jon Gruden and the Oakland Raiders. It will be the first time the Broncos have opened the season on the road since 2010, a game they lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars 24-17, and they haven’t opened the season against the Raiders since 2011, a game they lost 23-20.
The game will also be on Monday Night Football, making it the 28th consecutive season the Broncos have had at least one game on Monday night, tying a record set by the Raiders from 1970-1997.
Denver’s home opener will come in Week 2 as the Chicago Bears come to town, and new head coach Vic Fangio has a chance for revenge against his former team. The last time the Broncos played the Bears, they narrowly won 17-15 on their way to their victory in Super Bowl 50.
Denver plays the second of the two remaining original members of the NFL as they travel to Lambeau Field to face the Green Bay Packers in Week 3. The Broncos are 7-6-1 all-time against the Packers but haven’t beaten them in Lambeau since 1971, which was the first meeting of the two squads.
The Broncos will then travel back to the Mile High City with hopes on knocking off the Jacksonville Jaguars and new quarterback Nick Foles. Foles notably beat Fangio’s Bears in the wildcard round of last year’s playoffs.
Week 5 has the Broncos continuing to alternate home and away as they travel to Los Angeles to take on the Chargers. Denver has split their matchups with the Chargers in each of the last two seasons but hold a 7-3 record over their last ten meetings.
Denver then hosts the Chiefs for their third divisional matchup of the season in Week 6. The quick turnaround and Thursday night game will be the Broncos’ second prime time game of the season.
In the game, the Broncos will be attempting to get their first victory over the Chiefs since September of 2015, as Andy Reid and Co. have bested them in each of the past seven matchups. It’s their longest losing streak in the series since the 1960s when the Broncos lost 11 straight from 1964-1969.
For the first time in the 2019 season, the orange and blue will have consecutive home games as they host the Titans in Week 7. The Titans have never beaten the Broncos at Mile High, the franchise’s last victory in Denver came in 1987 when they were still the Houston Oilers.
Week 8 has the Broncos going back on the road, this time to Indianapolis where they’ve had plenty of trouble. Outside of their 2017 victory over the Colts, they haven’t won in Indy since 1990, when Peyton Manning was only 14.
The Broncos will then have to play host to the new-look Browns in Week 9. It’ll be the second consecutive season Denver will host the Browns. Last season’s matchup ended in a narrow 17-16 loss for Denver.
Also, for the second straight year, Denver will have their bye week in Week 10, almost perfectly splitting the season in half.
The bye is coming at the perfect time for Vic Fangio’s squad, as in Weeks 11 and 12, the Broncos will have their first roadtrip of the season, as they head to Minnesota to face the Vikings, before traveling to Buffalo play the Bills.
Then, Denver heads back home to close out their season series with the Chargers in Week 13, before going on another road trip to play the Houston Texans in Week 14 and the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 15 for what will be their second Thursday Night game of the year.
In Week 16, the Broncos will close out their series against the NFC North with a home game against the Lions. The Broncos are 7-5 all-time against the Lions and haven’t lost since 2011 when Tim Tebow was the quarterback.
Denver then closes out the regular season the same way they started it, against Jon Gruden and the Raiders.
In terms of strength of schedule, there’s no doubt that Denver’s is among the hardest in the league. That being said, the schedule makers did help the Broncos out a bit by only giving them two road trips, each of which are only two games long.