The Denver Broncos have been one of the biggest surprises of the NFL season as they have seemed to defy the odds under first time head coach Josh McDaniels and make a winner out of franchise that was down in the dumps after a disaster of an offseason.

McDaniels and company were able to start of the season firing on all cylinders on both offense and most surprisingly on defense. The Broncos were 6-0 and flying high going into their week eight matchup against the Baltimore Ravens who also have been surprisingly dominate on offense this season, but for the first time this season the Broncos lost a game and were given somewhat of a reality check.

Week nine posed another big challenge for the Broncos as they went up against another AFC heavyweight in the defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers have been red hot as of late winning four straight including an impressive victory over the once undefeated Minnesota Vikings. Pittsburgh has had their fair share of problems this season with a nonexistent running game and an injury to safety Troy Polamalu, but they have been able to turn their season around and were ready to give the Broncos a run for their money.

Even though the Denver defense has grabbed the headlines, the Broncos offense has also been very impressive with quarterback Kyle Orton behind center who had thrown only one interception all season long coming into this game against the defending champs. Orton never really got much attention in Chicago, but he has really started to come into his own in Denver and has been arguably one of the best quarterbacks in the league in terms of efficiency.

Despite Orton’s breakout season with the Broncos, he had his work cut out for him in week 10 against the Steelers as they picked off the young quarterback three times and failed to throw a touchdown pass.

The Steelers defense has struggled this season, but they were on their game against the Broncos sacking Orton twice and three interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown.

Besides the defense having it’s fair share of troubles this season it has been the running game that has really hurt the Steelers this season, but on Monday night the Pittsburgh running game was didn’t miss a beat as Rashard Mendenhall rushed for 155 yards on 22 carries with an average of 7.0 yards per carry.

The game was close in the first half of a defensive battle, but the Steelers really turned it on offensively in the second half with 21 points and never looked back as they went on to win 28-10. Despite only having 44 yards on seven catches wide receiver Hines Ward stole the show in this one with two touchdowns. Not only was Ward’s touchdowns the difference in the game, but his last touchdown grab was arguably the play of the game as he literally hurdled over Champ Bailey to get to the endzone.

No one really expected the Broncos to go the distance undefeated this season, but the question now will be can they rebound bound from two straight losses to the Ravens and Steelers.

The Broncos scheduled doesn’t get any easier from here on out, they play the lowly Washington Redskins next week, but after that they will face the San Diego Chargers, New York Giants, Indianapolis Colts and the Philadelphia Eagles in the last eight games of the season. If the Broncos can’t turn it around and get back to form the Chargers might be able to take the lead in the AFC West and we might have a repeat performance of last season.

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