Before I tell you what it is, let me explain why it's a big deal to me. I grew up in Denver in the 1960's. In that time, the Western Conference of the AFL had four teams: the Los Angeles Chargers (who moved to San Diego in 1961), the Dallas Texans (who moved to Kansas City in 1963 and became the Chiefs), the Oakland Raiders and your Denver Broncos.

The Broncos of the 1960's were bad. Really bad. As in never had a winning season the entire decade bad. As a result, I spent many a Sunday afternoon listening to (home games weren't televised back then) or, if I was lucky, watching (if ABC deigned to carry the game that week) the rest of the West pretty much have their way with our boys in Brown/Gold/Orange/Blue. Although we took some pretty good poundings during that woeful decade, no one did it more consistently or with greater disdain than the Oakland Raiders. After chalking up 4 wins against them in the first 3 seasons, we didn't beat them again for the rest of the DECADE. While the Texans/Chiefs and the Chargers were the most successful teams at the very start, by the end of the 1960's the Raiders were the team to beat, and we pretty much never could.

As a result, I HATE the Raiders. I dislike the Chiefs and the Chargers, but I DESPISE the Raiders. I suspect I'm not alone in this, although for some of you, it's probably difficult to picture the Raiders as a team to be feared. Well, back then they were, to the tune of 77 total wins in the decade, to Denver's 39. This was a hole deep enough that I never thought I'd see the day when we'd catch and pass the mighty Raiders. Until today.

Some time this season, probably in October unless something really strange happens, the Denver Broncos will catch and pass the Raiders as the winningest franchise in the AFL/AFC West. The current all time wins standings for the original Western Conference of the AFL:

Raiders 434

Broncos 432

Chiefs 415

Chargers 408

That's right. Just 3 more wins than the Raiders and the Broncos will have more all time wins, something they haven't had since 1962. And when we win the Super Bowl this year, we'll have caught them there too. Now that's the kind of history I like!

UPDATE:

It's official, Broncos Country. For the first time since 1962, the Broncos have more wins as a franchise than the Raiders. The old AFL West now looks like this:

Broncos 435

Raiders 434

Chiefs 417

Chargers 412

At this point, the only original AFL franchise ahead of us is the Patriots at 441. I can't wait until we reel them it too!