The Denver Broncos will enter the NFL history books after agreeing to have their Week 16 road game against the Los Angeles Chargers flexed from Sunday to Thursday night.
In doing so, Denver will become the first team in 98 years to play multiple road Thursday games after playing on Sunday, per the Associated Press. The last team to do so was the 1926 Los Angeles Buccaneers, who split their Thursday night games and finished that season with a 6-3-1 record.
The Broncos could have said no to the flex, as the NFL has a policy against giving a team two short-week road games in the same season. But Denver (who won its first Thursday night game of the season against the Saints back in Week 7) signed off on the flex, anyway.
“It’s a road game anyway, right?” Broncos head coach Sean Payton said this week when asked about the flex. “I like the fact that we have another opportunity. I remember this a long time ago, ‘Boys, we’d rather be flexed in than flexed out.’ It’s a real good team playing real good, and it flexes Cincinnati out who we play the following week. … But it is what it is, and they just tell us when we’re playing.”
As Payton alluded to, the fact that the Broncos were flexed means that Denver is a team worth watching. Payton’s team is currently 6-5 and would be the AFC’s final playoff team if the postseason started today. The Broncos are coming off an impressive 38-6 win over the Falcons that included a 307-yard, four-touchdown performance from quarterback Bo Nix, who is rivaling Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels for NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.
Like the Broncos, the Chargers are having a good season under first-year head coach Jim Harbaugh. After a 3-3 start, the Chargers have won four straight games and are currently holding onto the AFC’s fifth playoff spot. A big reason for L.A.’s surge has been the play of quarterback Justin Herbert, who has thrown 13 touchdowns against just one pick thus far.