ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — A year after ending an ignominious losing streak against the Kansas City Chiefs, the Denver Broncos are out to extinguish another embarrassing skid Sunday when they host the Las Vegas Raiders.
Kansas City has owned the AFC West for eight years while the Raiders and Broncos have spent that time taking turns as the dregs of the division.
Yet, the Broncos (2-2) have lost eight straight times to the Raiders (2-2), a string of defeats that’s as perplexing as any one-sided series in the NFL given how evenly matched the teams have been the last several seasons.
Take away games against each other and the Raiders are 24-35 since 2020 and the Broncos are 25-33.
It’s one thing to lose to the Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes 16 times in a row as Denver did before an emphatic 24-9 win over Kansas City last season.
It’s quite another to get schooled year in and year out by the likes of Aiden O’Connell, Jimmy Garoppolo and Derek Carr, who won his last six starts against the Broncos after starting out 5-6 against them.
The Broncos’ last win in storied AFC West rivalry came on Dec. 29, 2019, when Shelby Harris’ knockdown of Carr’s 2-point pass to an open Hunter Renfrow with 7 seconds left preserved Denver’s 16-15 victory on the final weekend of the regular season.
That put an emphatic end to the Raiders’ dim playoff hopes and ended Oakland’s run as an NFL city. The Raiders moved to Las Vegas the following year and have won all four home games against the Broncos since then and by an average score of 28-16 and all four games in Denver by an average of 26-19
The Raiders are dealing with both injury (Maxx Crosby missed his first career game Sunday) and intrigue (Will Davante Adams get traded?).
