Road to Super Bowl LVI seems to run through AFC West
Sep 3, 2021, 2:33 PM
The army of analysts over at NFL.com have spoken, and it seems as if the Super Bowl this season runs through the AFC West … just not the Denver Broncos.
Overwhelmingly, the Kansas City Chiefs were predicted to win Super Bowl LVI this coming February, garnering double the votes (11) of the next team, the San Francisco 49ers (5).
The orange and blue, unsurprisingly, earned no votes to win it all from any of the NFL.com analysts, though one voter — David Carr, former Houston Texas quarterback and brother of Derek Carr — took the Las Vegas Raiders to win it all.
A handful of analysts did vote for the Broncos to earn a wild card berth, but Denver ranked seventh among the 11 teams who garnered a vote.
One small silver lining among the predictions is Broncos top pick Pat Surtain II earned the second-most votes for defensive rookie of the year, only behind Dallas Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons.
However, on the offensive side of the ball, Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields was picked to win rookie of the year, which would only fuel the debate in Broncos Country about if Denver made the wrong decision in the 2021 NFL Draft.