Broncos unlikely to break major team record which at one point seemed like a lock

Travis Wakeman

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Broncos unlikely to break major team record which at one point seemed like a lock image

The 1984 Chicago Bears are probably safe.

That season, they had 72 sacks in 16 games, still the most in NFL history. But at one point this season, the Broncos were on a torrid pace, racking up 46 sacks in their first 10 games and looking like they would shatter that mark.

But they have cooled off and after sacking Kansas City Chiefs third-string quarterback Chris Oladokun just one time on Christmas night, they will need a small miracle to break that record.

The Broncos have 64 sacks on the season and need eight to tie the Bears and nine to surpass them. They had one game this season – in Week 13 against the New York Jets – where they sacked Justin Fields nine times. But the Chargers, who the Broncos will face in Week 18, are not the Jets.

In the first meeting between the Broncos and Chargers this season, back in Week 3, the Broncos sacked Justin Herbert five times. The Chargers do have a depleted offensive line, but nine sacks is probably too much to ask for.

So what happened? Why did the Broncos' pass rush slow down?

Their opponents began to place much more focus on stopping the pass rush, realizing that the Broncos had an all-time great unit. Nik Bonitto hasn't had a sack in any of the team's last three games. Jonathon Cooper – who had seven sacks in the first nine games – has a total of one sack in the last seven games.

With that sack, the Broncos break the franchise's all time single season sack record.

New record: 64 and counting
— Romi Bean (@Romi_Bean) December 26, 2025

That is the trend that the entire defense has been on. If Bonitto and Cooper are not going to threaten the quarterback, the team is not going to rack up any sacks. Over the course of the last three games, the Broncos have gotten sacks from the likes of Dondrea Tillman, Jonah Elliss, Malcolm Roach and even Riley Moss, but not their superstar edge rushers.

The 64 sacks the Broncos have gotten are already the most in franchise history and currently, good for 12th-most in league history.

READ: Houston Texans can help Broncos achieve their first goal on Saturday

But it does speak volumes for how good that Bears defense was to get 72, a mark the Broncos likely aren't going to touch, and they'll even have an extra game to do it as the Bears did that in a 16-game season while the league now runs a 17-game season.

Broncos unlikely to break major team record which at one point seemed like a lock

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Contributing Writer