AFC West Teams: What makes a successful 2016?

[iknowftbll]

AFC West teams: What makes a successful season?

This is just an updated version of last year's thread (linked above). The rules are simple: for each AFC West teams, what is a realistic expectation that would leave their fans feeling like their team had a successful season? Keep in mind every team says "The Super Bowl is the goal." Of course they are going to say that. The Browns will say that. But we all know the Browns are not a Super Bowl contender. So this thread is for discussing REASONABLE expectations for the AFC West teams.

I'll start.

Broncos: Win the AFC West again and win a playoff game. While most will balk and say "Repeat as SB Champs," and I certainly hope that happens, I do not believe the Broncos need to repeat as champs in order for it to be considered a successful season. Repeating is something that only 2 teams have done in the past 20 seasons. The Broncos being compared to the 85 Bears, 00 Ravens or 02 Buccaneers is a compliment, but those comparisons come with a subtle and backhanded caveat: none of those teams repeated. Why is that significant? IT ISN'T. As I've established: few teams actually repeat. Why are those teams held to a higher standard than other non-repeating SB Champs? Why should the Broncos be? The truth is many have left this Broncos team for dead in this first of the post-Manning Broncos years. But if the team can maintain their death grip on the division, with one of or a combination of Sanchez-Siemian-Lynch at the QB position it'll speak volumes about the quality of the roster Elway has assembled. Now I certainly don't think a single playoff win is the ceiling for this team, but I think it would feel it was a successful season if they pull it off.

Chiefs: Make the playoffs. Even without a win in the playoffs, the Chiefs need to reach the playoffs for this to be considered a successful season. The 2015 Chiefs got their first playoff win since the 1993 Chiefs, a 22 year drought. With that monkey off their back, most Chiefs fans will likely tell you a deep playoff run, or even Super Bowl appearance is the mark of a successful 2016. I'd beg to differ. If the Chiefs simply make the playoffs it'll be a successful campaign. The Chiefs haven't had consecutive playoff seasons since a 6-year run from 1990-1995. In the 20 seasons since that run ended, they've scattered just 6 playoff appearances, with 2 of them coming since they hired Andy Reid. Good teams make the playoffs year in and year out. The next step for the Kansas City Chiefs is not to reach the Super Bowl: It's simply make the playoffs and make for consecutive playoff appearances for the first time in 20 years. Of course, making the playoffs means the Chiefs will have a shot at the Super Bowl, so what I'd consider a successful season is an enabler for what Chiefs fans may consider a successful season. If the Chiefs reach the playoffs and lose their first game, my guess is Chiefs fans will likely not consider it a successful season. But they probably would if they took into consideration the history of their own team.

Raiders: Reach a 9-7 or better record. Playoffs or no playoffs, the if the Raiders finish over .500 for the first time since 2002 it would be a successful season. If you look at last year's thread, this was the same benchmark. Last year I may have set the bar a little too high for them, though because a brief perusal of any Raiders board or blog site and on the heels of a 7-9 finish in 2015 a lot of their fans think their team is a Super Bowl contender. To be fair, I think it's less the 7-9 record and more the young core of this team. The Raiders also rolled out the checkbook and signed a lot of big $$$ FA's this past spring, and that has their fans and a lot of analysts alike excited about this team. Even I picked them to reach the playoffs. But given the recent history of the Raiders, not to mention recent FA spending sprees (Eagles "dream team") being failures, the playoffs really are a bold prediction for the Raiders. Even a non-playoff but over .500 season would have to be considered a success by most fans and analysts.

Chargers: Similar to the Raiders, I believe the Chargers season would be a success if they reach 9-7, even if it doesn't get them into the playoffs. After a 4-12 season the expectations cannot be too high for this team. The thing is, a lot of Chargers fans consider the team a bubble playoff contender. Between the injuries and an obscene number of 1-score losses, fans believe this team wasn't as bad as the 4-12 finish suggests. With Phil Rivers approaching the final seasons of his playing career, the team has drafted some intriguing prospects. These players may not make an immediate enough impact for 2016 to be a playoff run, but they will be coming of age early enough to give the Chargers a very short, maybe 2-season window with Rivers in which the Chargers may be considered contenders. For now just holding it together enough reach a 9-7 finish would have to be a wildly successful season for the Chargers.

So those are my thoughts on what expectations for the AFC West teams may be in 2016. Let's hear yours!

 

[Clayton]

Broncos: Win a playoff game or develop Paxton Lynch to the point where he looks like a long term starter
Chiefs: Make the Super Bowl. Some older pieces on the team
Raiders: 9-7 or better
Chargers: Win a playoff game. Rivers window isn't super large

 

[Fountain City Blues]

Broncos: Make the playoffs, win at least one playoff game
Chiefs: Make the playoffs, win at least one playoff game
Raiders: Playoff contention + >.500
Chargers: >= .500

 

[SpringStein]

Broncos: Make the playoffs, win at least one playoff game
Chiefs: Make the playoffs, win at least one playoff game
Raiders: Playoff contention + >.500
Chargers: >= .500

I'd second this one.

All good thoughts though.

 

[Wamu]

They all go 1-15!

 

[nflbronco]

Denver win SB
KC actually win AFC west
Oak win 10 games
SD win a playoff game. Rivers needs to show he can take his team somewhere.

 

[Broncosr0k]

Denver win SB
KC actually win AFC west
Oak win 10 games
SD win a playoff game. Rivers needs to show he can take his team somewhere.

Quite a high bar for the broncos compared to the other division rivals except maybe the chargers.

 

[CEH]

Broncos: Make it back to the AFCC
Chiefs: Host and win home playoff game
Raiders: 9-7 or better
Chargers: Compete for the division into week 17.

 

[CEH]

2016 could be 1999 all over again if Brister started instead of Griese. Having been here in 1999 , Kubiak should have a good knowledge of what it takes to move on to a QB that has not really started any significant games coming off a Super Bowl victory. This is why I still expect Sanchez to start even if he sucks during "Camp Champ" even with Trevor lighting it up.

 

[cdumler7]

Broncos--Division Title once again and a playoff win. So many have left this team for dead as pointed out by some but this team has proven our winning wasn't all Manning but the entire roster helping out. Plus would honestly love to see Sanchez be our starter and us win with him since so many can't help but make fun of the fact that he might be our starter. Now I do think though with us being the returning Champions we should still have high expectations even with our offense really in a transition year.

Chiefs--Division Title and at least making it to the divisional round of the playoffs. Great job on the history lesson IKF. Two years in a row of making the playoffs would definitely show a team that belongs in that top-10 teams of the league discussion but until they can prove that they are a contender year in and year out hard to take them completely serious.

Raiders--Playoffs or bust. The Raiders have done way too much talking this off season to have it be anything less. Honestly this does have that feeling of the dream team of the Eagles as they are getting hyped and have heard their fans and team buy into that. So if they are going to do the talking they better be ready to back it up on the field.

Chargers--Winning Record. Last year was terrible obviously but they have quite a few players coming back from injury so they do have some expectations. With Rivers on the down hill part of his career the Chargers have about a 2-3 year window with him otherwise they are on the QB hunt and well they don't have a great defense to fall back on while doing that.

 

[Clayton]

Broncos--Division Title once again and a playoff win. So many have left this team for dead as pointed out by some but this team has proven our winning wasn't all Manning but the entire roster helping out. Plus would honestly love to see Sanchez be our starter and us win with him since so many can't help but make fun of the fact that he might be our starter. Now I do think though with us being the returning Champions we should still have high expectations even with our offense really in a transition year.

Chiefs--Division Title and at least making it to the divisional round of the playoffs. Great job on the history lesson IKF. Two years in a row of making the playoffs would definitely show a team that belongs in that top-10 teams of the league discussion but until they can prove that they are a contender year in and year out hard to take them completely serious.

Raiders--Playoffs or bust. The Raiders have done way too much talking this off season to have it be anything less. Honestly this does have that feeling of the dream team of the Eagles as they are getting hyped and have heard their fans and team buy into that. So if they are going to do the talking they better be ready to back it up on the field.

Chargers--Winning Record. Last year was terrible obviously but they have quite a few players coming back from injury so they do have some expectations. With Rivers on the down hill part of his career the Chargers have about a 2-3 year window with him otherwise they are on the QB hunt and well they don't have a great defense to fall back on while doing that.

Lots of people are too low on Chargers expectations imo. They have a franchise QB and a coach that has led them to winning seasons 2 out of 3 years.

Both the Chiefs and Chargers are in the 'if not now, then when?' boat and I think both should have relatively high expectations. Raiders still have a year or two to tinker with their core. Broncos just won it all and are replacing their QB so they have built in modifiers that could lower expectations but I think if their QB spot is solidified in any way then its Super Bowl or bust for them.

After Tom Brady and Gronk and Big Ben with Brown, is there really anything in the NFC thats truly scary outside of the AFC West? At least half of the teams in the AFC should have high expectations.

 

[cdumler7]

Lots of people are too low on Chargers expectations imo. They have a franchise QB and a coach that has led them to winning seasons 2 out of 3 years.

Both the Chiefs and Chargers are in the 'if not now, then when?' boat and I think both should have relatively high expectations. Raiders still have a year or two to tinker with their core. Broncos just won it all and are replacing their QB so they have built in modifiers that could lower expectations but I think if their QB spot is solidified in any way then its Super Bowl or bust for them.

After Tom Brady and Gronk and Big Ben with Brown, is there really anything in the NFC thats truly scary outside of the AFC West? At least half of the teams in the AFC should have high expectations.

Maybe I am too low on the Chargers with Rivers and like you said they have had recent success. Still after such a down year anything positive for them is going to look good at least from a fans perspective.

Chiefs I am probably low on too considering they finally won a playoff game and return a lot of the same players. So maybe it should be at least AFC Championship game or bust for the year. Still I would think for any of the division outside of Denver winning the Division would be huge considering how long the Broncos have been dominating that part of it.

 

[Clayton]

Still I would think for any of the division outside of Denver winning the Division would be huge considering how long the Broncos have been dominating that part of it.

I think the Broncos do have their shadow they cast but its more about how far you get in the playoffs then actually winning the division. I doubt the Vikings winning the division last year leaves them any solace to the fact that they blew their playoff game badly.

 

[cdumler7]

I think the Broncos do have their shadow they cast but its more about how far you get in the playoffs then actually winning the division. I doubt the Vikings winning the division last year leaves them any solace to the fact that they blew their playoff game badly.

The way they lost was terrible yes. If they had lost by a touchdown instead I think the fans would still be excited that they made the playoffs, won the division with such a young team. I was impressed that they beat out the Packers as the Packers have dominated that division for so long.

Now maybe it isn't enough for the Chiefs but I would say the Chargers and Raiders fans would be jumping off the wall if they won the division even if they got bounced in the 1st round of the playoffs considering the difficulty of the division.

 

[Mingo]

The Broncos - Super Bowl Victory - do your jobs - Broncos!

The Chiefs - A new head coach - Andy Reid is the Marty Shottenhiemer of this league.

The Raiders - Finish Strong - Make the playoffs - or get very close.

Chargers - I wish a rapid unraveling of River's skills while there are still fans around with memories.

 

[nflbronco]

Agree

 

[MileHigh64]

Broncos - Back to back Superbowl victories. In addition, Paxton Lynch takes the reins around week 10 and shows the Broncos that they have the quarterback of the future.

Chiefs - Arrowhead once again breaks the sound record for loudest stadium

Raiders - An agreement is reached to move the team from Oakland to Las Vegas

Chargers - Antonio Gates announces his retirement at the end of the 2016 season. A huge farewell party is scheduled.

 

[CEH]

My prediction of Denver is way too high.

This is a bridge year at QB for Denver so a AFCC game appearance seems very ambitious. Not sure the starter in 2017 will even play one snap in 2016 so making the playoffs would be more realistic.

 

[cdumler7]

I keep thinking more and more about this off season and how much the media have said the Broncos have had this crazy whirlwind of a time but to me I look at our divisional opponents and think some of the same thing. Chiefs lost Smith and a few others to FA. Houston they have no clue when he will be back but it is looking more and more like it won't be until maybe half way through the season. Berry is now sitting out because he didn't get a contract done. One could argue those are the 3 best players on their defense from last year and all of them might not be suiting up week 1 for them. Charles is another year older and coming off another serious injury. Johnson is another year older. Hali of course is getting up in age and with Houston down they won't have quite the rotation meaning Hali needs to take more snaps if the defense is going to be successful. So again lots of change and honestly a lot of turmoil especially on the defensive side of the ball.

Oakland while they brought in a lot of high priced FA's we have seen more times than not that blow up in a teams face. Honestly the Broncos were/are very fortunate that the 2014 off season worked out so well for them with Ware, Talib, and Ward all becoming big time starters for our team. That is a rarity in the NFL. Most of the time the reason a player makes it to FA is not only could the team maybe not afford them but they deemed them not to be a core player yet the Raiders brought in a lot of these guys to be core players on their team. So again another team with a lot of moving pieces that usually first year with so much change doesn't go as planned.

San Diego honestly didn't pay much attention to their off season. For them the big question will be how do all these players return from injury.

 

[Broncos6482]

Broncos - win the division and a playoff game. This team is still talented enough to do that.

Chiefs - win the division and a playoff game, OR win the Super Bowl. 2016 is a critical year for the Chiefs, they've got some older guys who are could hit the cliff, and they've got some younger guys needing new deals without a lot of cap room to spare. They need to finally win the division over Denver and win a playoff game (losing a home playoff game is not a successful season). If they fail to do that, they better make a run to the Super Bowl, because I think the 2017 Chiefs will look very different.

Raiders - finish 9-7 or better. I was going to say make the playoffs, but it's been so long since they've even had a winning season that I think finishing with a winning record would be enough for now.

Chargers - finish 9-7 or better and develop young players. This team needs to take a step forward and show promise for 2017, because they are running out of time with Philip Rivers.