ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The AFC West no longer belongs to the Kansas City Chiefs. After nearly a decade-long reign of dominance, the division now belongs back to the Denver Broncos.
That’s thanks in large part to Sean Payton. But it certainly wasn’t an easy task to dethrone the Chiefs. And Payton doesn’t expect it to be an easy task to maintain.
When Greg Penner and Carrie Walton-Penner hired Payton in 2023, the Chiefs were in the middle of back to back Super Bowls and had won seven-straight AFC West titles.
By Payton’s third season in Denver, he and the Broncos had knocked the Chiefs off the top of the AFC West, and for the first time since Peyton Manning was in town, brought the division title back to Denver.
On Monday, as he and the team reconvened to prepare for their Week 1 game against the Chiefs on Monday Night Football, Payton shared how he turned the tides in the division so quickly.
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