The AFC West: How the Former Powerhouse Division Fizzled

On the first play of Denver's Monday Night game against New England, Jay Cutler injured his finger on Vince Wilfork's helmet. This must have messed with Coach Mike Shanahan's usual pre-planned 15-play commencement to every game. Seeing the immediate innaccuracy of Cutler's throwing after the bang-up, more run plays started to get dialed. Since Selvin Young was out of the game, it was 33-year-old back-up Michael Pittman's job to carry the load. Soon thereafter, during the same long drive downfield, Pittman was injured and taken out of the game. Thus third-stringer Andre Hall had to carry the ball. And on his first touch, he fumbled it. The drive was simply doomed from the beginning.

The Patriots would capitalize on that turnover with a field-goal. And then after another Andre Hall fumble on the next drive, the Patriots would get another field goal. And after three more Denver turnovers, the Patriots would roll over the floundering Broncos, 41-7 (the same score as the largest victory the Broncos had all last year, a slaughter of the Chiefs in Week 14).

Going into the game, Shanahan mandated that each of his players keep better control of the football. This was due to the fact that the week before, Cutler had an interception and a fumble against the Jaguars, to whom they fell. The Broncos have not had a defense to speak of all year but since their offense has failed to keep the momentum generated from a truly impressive showcasing during a 3-0 start to the season, the Broncos have fallen 1-3 in their last four games to keep a one-game lead over the talented, but equally inconsistent Chargers. And since the Broncos' Week 2 victory came over a notoriously botched call by Ed Hochuli that would otherwise have given the Chargers the victory - and the Broncos' Week 3 victory came over two missed field goals by now out-of-work Martin Grammatica - the 3-0 start wasn't really that solid to begin with.

Still, the Broncos lead the division at 4-3. The Chargers, who many thought would represent the AFC in this year's Super Bowl, have had dominating games against the Jets and the Patriots, humiliatingly narrow losses to the Panthers, Dolphins, and Bills, a surprise comeback win against the Raiders, and that botched game against the Broncos in Week 2. But, asterisks or no asterisks, the Chargers are underperforming. Star running back LaDainian Tomlinson is doing little to support the excellent quarterbacking of Philip Rivers, who has lead the league in passer rating for much of the season. With Shawne Merriman out for the season, the defense has been totally out of control; when a wide receiver catches 18 passes when matched up with Antonio Cromartie, one knows something is wrong.

And not that anyone expected anything from the Oakland Raiders or the Kansas City Chiefs, but the Chiefs have had the worst quarterback-carousel in recent memory and just lost inept first-stringer Brodie Croyle to a season-ending knee injury (which currently leaves the Chiefs in the utterly pathetic hands of Tyler Thigpen). And the Raiders, despite remaining competitive in many games won or lost, have not lived up the hype that their off-season acquisitions merited.

The AFC West is a dump. 4 out of the last 7 weeks, only 1 team in the division has won a game (and 2 out of the 3 weeks where two teams won games, there were only inter-divisonal games played, so less than two winners would have been impossible). Each team ranks below 25th in Defense and only one team is above 15th in offense (Denver, at 4th). Currently and dating back to the end of last season, only the division leader has finished above .500.

So what happened? The current mediocrity might suppress the memories of before, but it hasn't been long since the AFC West was a divison of contenders. After Denver's back-to-back Super Bowl wins over Green Bay and Atlanta, John Elway retired and the Broncos' success was weakened for a time. Immediately, Jon Gruden's Oakland Raiders were the envy of the AFC.  But shortly after "the Tuck Rule" sent the Patriots off to the Super Bowl and the Raiders lost in the snow, Jon Gruden left for the warmer weather of Tampa Bay in what has been one of the most intriguing head-coaching results in recent history - with Gruden defeating his former team in the Super Bowl the year later. And of course, things have never been the same in Oakland since.

But from 2003-2006, the AFC West retained a semblance of power. From 2003-2005, Kansas City had either the best or the second-best offense in the entire league. In that same time period, Denver always had a top-five defense, as well as a top-ten offense. Then in 2006, those feats were overshadowed by San Diego's league best 14-2 record, with a league-high 492 points.

In two of those four years, each three of those teams finished above .500. In the other two years, two teams finished with winning records. With players such as Drew Brees, Larry Johnson, LaDainian Tomlinson, and Rod Smith - with head coaches like Marty Schottenheimer and Mike Shanahan - one would have thought great things would be possible.

The Broncos advanced as far as the AFC Championship game in 2005, before getting dismantled by the eventual Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers. The defeat would convince Mike Shanahan to replace quarterback Jake Plummer with Jay Cutler, who has since compiled a losing record by playing opposite a defense that has all but fallen apart.

The Chiefs went to the playoffs three of those four years, losing each of their post-season appearances. The Chargers wouldn't fare much better, losing by a field goal in each of their two post-season appearances after winning the division.

Not until last year had either the Chiefs or the Chargers won a playoff game since the Chargers' victory at the AFC Championship Game in 1995. But the 11-5 Chargers of last season, behind a solid offense and an opportunistic defense, beat the Tennessee Titans at home in a physical rematch of their Week 14 slugfest earlier that year. The Chargers would then go to Indianapolis to upset the Colts, losing LaDainian Tomlinson and Philip Rivers to injuries (star tight-end Antonio Gates would play despite a broken toe). Many fans can imagine what could have been in Foxborough had their offensive starters been healthy, but the Chargers fell 21-12 to the then-perfect New England Patriots.

It has taken a long time for the Chargers to get healthy and Tomlinson still does not appear to form. If the window of opportunity did close on San Diego, it will be a long time before anyone in the West has a shot at the Super Bowl. Despite it being mid-season, Herm Edwards claims the Chiefs are still "re-building" - an excuse which he might intend to give him a free pass at each weeks' loss. The Oakland Raiders are heavy with talent, but their offense is extremely young, their owner is irresponsible, they just fired their head coach, and their players aren't living up to the high expectations they probably do not deserve. And Denver needs to find stability at the Defensive Coordinator position before they can be considered an elite team.

Every other division in the AFC seems headed in the other direction from the west. While the North is home of the terrible Cincinnati Bengals, the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers hold two of the mightiest defenses in the league. And while they have been rather disappointing this season, the Cleveland Browns have improved. The South is home of Peyton Manning of the Colts, Maurice Jones-Drew of the Jaguars, Houston's explosive offense, and the NFL's only unbeaten team - the Tennessee Titans. And in the East, the Bills have surprised everyone with a 5-1 start, the Patriots have kept their balance at 4-2, the Jets are improved with Brett Favre, Kris Jenkins, and Alan Faneca, and even the Dolphins have turned heads with the play from their premiere running back Ronnie Brown.

Many of those teams are talented, disciplined, and well-coached. The others (like Miami) are on the rise. Unfortunately for the AFC West, their headed in the direction in which the sun sets.