Here's why the Broncos' 2-0 start is different than their fast starts in 2016, 2017 and 2018

In the last two weeks, the Broncos joined a club of 15 teams.

And what the previous 14 teams in that collection did might be the difference between the 2-0 start of this year’s Broncos and the ones that came before it in the last five years.

In 2017 and 2018, an opening pair of wins amounted to little beyond that. In 2017 and 2018, the Broncos promptly lost their third game. The 2018 Week 3 loss at Baltimore began a 1-5 stretch; the 2017 Week 3 defeat at Buffalo started a 1-9 skid that included the franchise’s longest losing streak in a half-century.

The 2016 2-0 opening — that eventually became a 4-0 start and a 7-3 mark after 10 weeks. The fade came later.

“The biggest thing you learn from those [is] not getting too caught up in the fact that your record is what it is at that season in time,” safety Justin Simmons said. “Everyone knows the ebbs and flow of a season are exactly that. There are highs, there are lows.”

So, why is this different?

Start with the fact that those 2-0 starts came with a pair of home wins.

In the Super Bowl era — from 1966 onward — 66 teams have started 2-0 by winning a pair of games at home, compared with 47 more that did so with both wins on the road. (Another 315 teams got to 2-0 by winning once at home and on the road.)

So, by opening with wins in the first two weeks away from Denver, the Broncos have put themselves in the company of just 11.0 percent of all 2-0 teams.

But then consider this: Only 15 of them in the Super Bowl era have done what the Broncos did: Reach 2-0 by winning both road games by double digits. The last three of those teams made at least the conference championship game, with the previous two — the 2019 Chiefs and 49ers — meeting in Super Bowl LIV.

Overall, of the 14 previous teams since 1966 to start 2-0 with a pair of double-digit road wins:

• Three (21 percent) won the Super Bowl
• Five (36 percent) made the Super Bowl
• Eight (57 percent) made at least the conference (or AFL) championship game
• Nine (65 percent) made the playoffs
• 11 (79 percent) avoided losing seasons

Their average wins per 17 games was 11.0 — and an 11-6 season will almost certainly get you to the playoffs.

Now, the downside: Five of these teams didn’t make the playoffs. One of them — the 1991 Phoenix Cardinals — was downright awful, finishing 4-12 after beating a Rams team that was destined for a 3-13 finish and an Eagles side that had just lost Randall Cunningham to a season-ending knee injury (although the Eagles would finish the year 10-6).

But for a team that has been irrelevant, you’ll take your chances on a trend that has a 65-percent chance of ending in the postseason.

And then, consider what the Broncos have already fought through to reach 2-0.

In Week 1, they trailed for much of the first half, and then overcame an Albert Okwuegbunam red-zone fumble and a KJ Hamler drop of a sure touchdown pass. These are miscues that could have killed the Broncos in previous years; against the New York Giants, in front of a hostile crowd, they were just speed bumps.

Then there are the injuries. By halftime last Sunday in Jacksonville, the Broncos were already down four starters, all of whom are now on injured reserve, with two of them — edge rusher Bradley Chubb and inside linebacker Josey Jewell — facing extended absences measured in months, rather than weeks.

“It’s really what you do as far as fighting through adversity,” Simmons said. “So far this year, the thing that I think I can stick my neck out and say I’m the proudest about is the fact that in the little adversity that we’ve hit so far, we’ve responded really well. Both games being down 7-3 at one point, and then responding in a way that was demanding in terms of taking control of the game.

“I think if we’re going to have that type of success this season, that’s what it’s going to take, right?”

Indeed. And by the numbers and trends of their 2-0 start, the Broncos have put themselves into good position to do something they haven’t done in nearly six years.