The Denver Broncos are currently 8-2 and in a three-way tie for the top spot in the AFC. They boast one of the best defenses in the NFL, and it’s caught the attention of Broncos Country, including Broncos legend and Hall of Famer Champ Bailey. In an exclusive interview with EssentiallySports, Bailey praised Denver’s defense and called for Bo Nix to manage the game offensively to help Denver bring home the Lombardi.

“I love the old cliche defense wins championships,” Bailey told EssentiallySports. “And I firmly believe that. Honestly, I don’t know how you win without it. And you can go back to any of these teams that have won championships, their defense had to be balling. But I cannot say enough that getting the right quarterback is so much more than the icing on the cake. You have to have good leadership, good play at quarterback at the quarterback position. And I think they found that in Bo Nix. I mean, he’s obviously in his second year still learning how to play the position, but right now his progression looks really good. So for him, he just got to make sure he manages the game at this point, you know, because the defense has been so great.”

Offenses are what draw the fans to the stadium, but like Bailey said, defenses are what win championships. You can have as explosive an offense as you want, but if you can’t get a stop, you’re not going to compete in the NFL. Just as the Dallas Cowboys and Cincinnati Bengals.

Denver’s got the defense to win it all, they just need the offense to come around.

Defense wins championships

Even in an era where offensive players are more talented than ever and there are more rules in place for offenses to succeed, having an elite defense has still been incredibly important. Everyone’s capable of scoring 20+ points in a game, but very few defenses can hold someone to 14 or fewer when your offense is sputtering.

Just look at the past 10 Super Bowl winners and where their defense ranked in terms of points per game allowed, and you’ll see that defenses truly do win championships, even in today’s era.

In the last decade, only one team has won the Super Bowl without a top-10 defense, and that team was led by one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time in Patrick Mahomes. But even that defense, which was not very good in the regular season, came through in the postseason. They held their four opponents to 15.7 points per game in the playoffs. The only team that scored more than KC’s 22.2 average points allowed was the Josh Allen-led Bills, who put 24 on the board.

Even if your defense doesn’t play well in the regular season, all that matters is that they play well in the postseason. When the weather gets cold and you have to go on the road to a hostile environment, defense travels better than offense. That’s why it’s so important to have an elite defense.

What makes Denver’s defense so great?

You can’t talk about Denver’s defense without talking about their pass rush. They are averaging 4.6 sacks per game through their first 10 games, and nobody else in even close. The Pittsburgh Steelers are in second, averaging 3.6 sacks per game. To put that into context, the Minnesota Vikings average 2.7 sacks per game, and they rank 13th. The gap between 1st and 2nd is bigger than the gap from 2nd to 13th.

To further put their pass rush into perspective, since 2003, there hasn’t been a single team that has averaged more than 4+ sacks per game. I know there’s still a long way to go, but their pass rush has shown no signs of slowing down, so there’s no reason to believe they can’t finish with a 4.0+ average.

All of their production isn’t from one guy, either. That’s what makes this pass rush so dangerous. They have nine guys with at least two sacks on the year, including two players, Nik Bonitto and Jonathan Cooper, who rank in the top 10.

Here’s a table with the stats from all of their top pass rushers, just to show you how elite they are at getting after the quarterback.

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An elite pass rush does more than just put pressure on the quarterback and sack him for lost yardage. It also forces your opponent to get the ball out much quicker than they want to. And that means your secondary doesn’t have to work nearly as hard to lock down opposing receivers.

There’s a reason the Broncos have one of the best pass defenses in the league. Part of it is because they have arguably the best corner in football, Pat Surtain, but it’s also because they get after the quarterbacks so quickly. Teams are forced to run shorter routes and check the ball down more often, which leads the less passing yards.

In his exclusive interview with EssentiallySports, Bailey talked about Denver’s elite pass rush and how it helps their secondary out.

“Now, it’ be nice to have Pat Surtain back out there and healthy, you know, because it’s only a matter of time before they find some weaknesses here and there without him in there, but their front is so good. When you have a great front like that, you could do anything on the back end. But, you know, you want your best player out there.”

When Surtain is healthy, this defense is arguably one of the best we’ve seen in the past decade. We’ve never seen a pass rush as efficient as theirs, and when Surtain is healthy and locking down their opponents’ No. 1 receiver, it makes it incredibly hard for an offense to do anything against them.

Bo Nix needs to be more consistent if they want to win the championship

If you just looked at the stat sheet, you’d think Nix was playing pretty well this season. He’s thrown for 2,126 yards and 18 touchdowns, but has turned the ball over eight times. Still, the Broncos are 8-2, and with those numbers, you’d think he’d be in the MVP conversation. But he’s not, and it’s largely due to his inconsistency.

This great tweet by Parker Gabriel shows just how inconsistent Nix has been this season. He’s stepped up to the plate in the fourth quarter and has played really well, but he’s really struggled early in games.

There’s something to be said about being able to scratch and claw your way back into a game when you’re trailing late, but having to win off a fourth-quarter comeback is not sustainable, especially in the playoffs. They’re a good enough team that they can fall behind to the 2-8 New York Giants and completely flip the script and win the game, but can they do that to Buffalo, Kansas City, Indianapolis or any other elite AFC team in the playoffs? I don’t think so. At least, not consistently enough to win the Super Bowl.

I don’t care that they’re 8-2, right now, they are not playing like a Super Bowl team. I’m trying not to be too hard on Nix, because he’s come through in a lot of big moments this year, but he just flat-out has to be more consistent, especially early in games. I can already see them falling behind 14-3 to Kansas City or Indianapolis in the AFC Divisional round and not being able to fight their way back into it.

Their defense will always keep them in the game, so it’s up to Nix to be more consistent and ensure their offense plays complementary football. If they can do that, they can certainly win the Super Bowl with their defense.