Power Rankings: You win, McDaniels; apologies to you

Updated Oct. 20

It all seems so hard to believe. A coaching star is fired, replaced by a fresh-faced kid whose claim to fame is calling plays for one of the era's great quarterbacks. The kid then jettisons the young franchise quarterback he inherits, brings in "his" guy to play the position, and then fist-pumps his way to a 6-0 start doing things exactly the way he said he would do them.

Who was I to doubt Josh McDaniels?

I'm done being a Denver Broncos skeptic. For weeks, I kept saying they weren't as good as their record. Dallas, I said, would beat them. They didn't. New England surely would. Nope. But, wait, San Diego had to have Monday's game if the Chargers were to have any real chance of winning the AFC West. Plus, they were coming off a bye, a rested, desperate team.

The final was Denver 34, San Diego 23. So much for that angle.

Division race: Over.

My doubts about the Broncos: Over.

The Broncos and McDaniels are proving to many people, me included, that we have no idea what to expect each and every NFL season. Anybody outside the Rocky Mountain region not named McDaniels who thought this would be a playoff team is lying worse than that balloon fool.

I have been a champion McDaniels ripper. Maybe even the gold-medal winner.

He traded away Jay Cutler. I ripped him.

He smugly answered questions at the league meetings about his decision to consider the move -- before it was made. I ripped him.

Let's see. I ripped him for mimicking Bill Belichick -- hoodie and whistle twirling included -- and I ripped him for his apparent disdain for the media, including not making time for his local beat guys at the combine, not even 15 minutes.

At 6-0, none of that matters now. McDaniels could push cameramen around now, just like Bill, and it wouldn't matter. He can browbeat the media, just like Bill, and it wouldn't bother anybody. He can put up all those cliché signs that Bill uses -- "Do Your Job" is a favorite -- and nobody blinks an eye. If he wanted to send Brandon Marshall to Siberia, it wouldn't matter.

That's what winning can do. It makes McDaniels look smarter than everybody else, certainly smarter than me, and leaves those of us who questioned him wondering why we ever did.

The Broncos face a tough schedule the next month or so. They play at Baltimore, home against Pittsburgh, at Washington (OK, not so tough), home against San Diego and then home against the New York Giants on Thanksgiving.

I would say those five games will get the best of the Broncos. But the way they're going, I won't dare.

The Broncos head to their bye week at 6-0, which has them in the fourth spot in our Power Rankings. It's hard to believe they are 6-0 and the Tennessee Titans are 0-6. And who could have imagined Kyle Orton would be an MVP candidate?

That's the beauty of the NFL.

It's also what makes it so maddening to try to figure out.