Raiders or Chiefs: Which AFC West Rival Do the Broncos Dislike More?
Hostility in sports doesn’t always follow logic. Sometimes it’s born from dominance. Sometimes it’s born from betrayal. And sometimes it simply exists because two teams have been colliding for so long that resentment becomes part of their shared identity.
For the Denver Broncos, both the Las Vegas Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs represent very different kinds of enemies. One has been a thorn in their side since the league’s earliest days. The other has tormented them through modern supremacy.
So, which rivalry is more heated?
Raiders: The Rivalry That Never Needed a Reason
The Broncos’ feud with the Raiders feels less like competition and more like inheritance. It didn’t begin because one team dominated the other – it began because both franchises were born into the same chaos of the old AFL and immediately found themselves in each other’s way.
Denver won the very first meeting in Week 4 of the 1960 regular season by a score of 31-14. That victory didn’t set the tone for control – it set the tone for conflict. Including the playoffs, Las Vegas still leads the all-time series 73-58-2, a testament to how often this rivalry has tilted back and forth across generations.
The Broncos poured gasoline on this rivalry when Denver edged the Raiders 20-17 in the 1977 AFC Championship Game to reach its first Super Bowl – ending the Silver and Black’s bid to win back-to-back titles after their Super Bowl XI triumph the season prior. The Raiders did not take the loss quietly, voicing frustration over several officiating decisions.
And when these two teams clash, the pain tends to linger. In Week 4 of the 1988 campaign, the Broncos built a 24-0 halftime lead – only to watch it evaporate in a stunning 30-27 overtime loss. Five years later, the Raiders rallied from a 30-13 deficit in the 1993 regular-season finale to defeat Denver 33-30 in overtime. A week later, the Raiders doubled down by dismantling the Broncos 42-24 in the 1993 Wild Card Round.
Even in games with nothing on the line, Denver’s hatred toward the Raiders can’t be tamed. In Week 11 of the 1999 regular season, Broncos fans pelted Raiders players with snowballs after Denver emerged with a 27-21 overtime victory – a contest in which neither team would make the playoffs.
This rivalry has always thrived on emotional swings rather than sustained dominance. A battered Brian Griese gutted through a partially separated right shoulder to lead the Broncos on a game-winning drive that was capped by a 41-yard Jason Elam field goal in Week 11 of the 2000 regular season, leaving the Raiders reeling and Denver elated. A 74-yard pick-six by Chris Harris Jr. in Week 5 of the 2015 campaign turned a shaky 9-7 lead into a 16-10 victory over the Raiders despite the Broncos failing to score an offensive touchdown.
At times, the tension became unmistakably personal. In the 2016 regular-season finale, Denver spoiled the Raiders’ chance to clinch the AFC West – a game remembered as much for Aqib Talib snatching Michael Crabtree’s chain as for the result itself. When Talib did it again in Week 12 of the 2017 campaign, it underscored just how deeply the animosity ran beyond the scoreboard.
And perhaps most tellingly, the hatred never fades – regardless of standings. Prior to the 2024 season, Las Vegas strung together an eight-game winning streak against the Broncos. But Denver flipped the script with sweeps in both 2024 and 2025. Yet neither stretch changed the temperature of the rivalry.
Because unlike modern rivalries fueled by championships, this one doesn’t need either team to be good.
Chiefs: The Rivalry Forged by Frustration
The Broncos’ tension with the Chiefs is rooted in something deeply personal: helplessness. For decades, the relationship was competitive but balanced. Denver delivered one of its proudest moments in the 1997 Divisional Round, defeating Kansas City by a score of 14-10 en route to its first Super Bowl title.
This rivalry even produced defining flashes of toughness – like Steve Atwater’s legendary “Hit Heard ‘Round the World” on Christian Okoye in Week 2 of the 1990 campaign. Or in Week 7 of the 1994 regular season when Joe Montana led the Chiefs to a dramatic 31-28 victory over John Elway and the Broncos, only for Denver to return the favor in Week 14 with a thrilling 20-17 overtime win over Kansas City. For decades, the games swung back and forth, and the rivalry remained intense but measured.
That all changed in the mid-2010s, when the Chiefs seized control of the AFC West. After the Broncos’ Super Bowl 50 triumph, Kansas City became unavoidable. The Chiefs captured nine straight AFC West titles, five conference championships, and three Super Bowls – often using Denver as a stepping stone along the way.
The dominance wasn’t abstract – it was relentless. After beating Kansas City in Week 2 of the 2015 season on Bradley Roby’s late fumble recovery touchdown, the Broncos didn’t defeat the Chiefs again for eight years.
The 16-game losing streak that followed perfectly encapsulated the frustration. After falling to Kansas City later in 2015, Denver was swept in 2016. In the 2017 regular-season finale, Patrick Mahomes made his first career start against the Broncos and guided the Chiefs to a 27-24 victory, completing a second straight sweep of Denver and signaling the pain yet to come.
Once Mahomes became Kansas City’s full-time starter in 2018, the real suffering began. The Broncos fell short in two one-score contests that season, then were emphatically swept in 2019 – outscored 53-9 across the two matchups. The trend continued as Denver was swept again in 2020, 2021, and 2022 before suffering yet another loss to the Chiefs in Week 6 of the 2023 campaign.
By that point, the animosity had fully crystallized – resembling the resentment the rest of the AFC East once felt toward the New England Patriots at the height of their dynasty.
The Broncos finally ended their losing streak to Kansas City in Week 8 of the 2023 regular season, when Denver secured its first win over Mahomes behind a five-turnover performance in a 24-9 victory. The Chiefs still got the last laugh, going on to win Super Bowl LVIII – their third championship of the Mahomes era.
Denver appeared poised to build momentum against its division rival in Week 10 of the 2024 campaign – only for Kansas City to block a 35-yard field goal attempt by Wil Lutz as time expired to escape with a 16-14 win. The Broncos steamrolled the Chiefs 38-0 in the 2024 regular-season finale to clinch a playoff berth, but that win felt hollow since Kansas City rested its starters in that contest.
In 2025, the power dynamic finally appeared to shift in the Broncos’ favor, as Denver swept the Chiefs for the first time since 2014 and reclaimed the AFC West crown. The Broncos had finally established that they would no longer be Kansas City’s punching bag.
Despite all the pain and suffering that the Chiefs have inflicted on Denver lately, there’s a key distinction about this rivalry: the Broncos’ hatred toward Kansas City didn’t fully ignite until the rivalry became painfully one-sided in the Chiefs’ favor.
Final Verdict: Animosity Without Stakes Wins
The Chiefs have been the Broncos’ biggest obstacle since the mid-2010s. Kansas City’s dominance reshaped the AFC West and forced Denver to measure itself against a new standard.
But the Raiders? They’ve been the enemy whether either team was chasing a Super Bowl or just trying to survive a season.
The animosity between the Broncos and Chiefs was built through frustration. The hostility between Denver and Las Vegas simply exists. And that’s why, even though Kansas City has often been the bigger threat to the Broncos lately, the Raiders remain the rival Denver truly dislikes most.
