Are the Broncos the NFL’s luckiest Super Bowl contender? Their 7-2 start is unlike anything we’ve ever seen

The Denver Broncos are 7-2. They've won five straight, Bo Nix keeps engineering fourth-quarter comebacks, and they've somehow won an NFL-record 16 consecutive one-score games dating to last season.

Oh, and they've been outgained by 699 yards through nine games. It's the worst yardage differential in NFL history for a team with at least seven wins at this point in the season. The previous low was the 2010 Patriots at minus-469, and Denver blew past that mark with 230 yards to spare.

But here's what's even harder to wrap your head around: Denver was also 7-2 through nine games last season, when it had outgained opponents by 607 yards. That's a 1,306-yard swing in the wrong direction, the largest year-over-year decline among teams that started at least 7-2 in consecutive seasons going back to 2000.

Same record, completely different team. So: Are the Broncos actually good, or are they just remarkably good at winning games they probably shouldn't?

Start with this: Denver has been outgained in seven of nine games, including five victories. To put that in perspective, only two of the 126 teams that started 7-2 or better this century spent less time playing with a lead.

Against the…

Original source: https://www.cbssports.com/