When Denver players returned to Broncos Park last April for the start of offseason drills, they sat down and listened to Sean Payton’s speech welcoming them back. They liked what they heard.

The head coach told players he had a team capable of winning the Super Bowl. The reaction was immediately positive.

“I called my dad on the way home, and I’m like, ‘Our Super Bowl window is now open, boys. Let’s go do it,'” guard Ben Powers said of dialing up Todd Powers in Wichita, Kansas. “It’s exciting stuff.”

Outside linebacker Nik Bonitto immediately took what Payton said to heart.

“I believed in what he was saying,’’ Bonitto said. “I’d seen the year we had (in 2024) and the additions that we were bringing in. So I believed in everything he was saying. There was no reason why we can’t get that goal.”

When training camp started, Payton talked to the media openly about the Broncos having a team capable of winning the Super Bowl. To many outsiders, that seemed unrealistic even though Payton did lead New Orleans to a Super Bowl win in the 2009 season during his 2006-21 tenure with the team.

In Payton’s second Broncos season of 2024, they did go 10-7 and made the playoffs for the first time since the 2015 team won the Super Bowl. But they were wiped out 31-7 at Buffalo to open the playoffs.

The schedule would be tougher in 2025. And while quarterback Bo Nix was coming off a solid rookie season as the starter, it seemed a bit much to some that he could lead a team to a Super Bowl win in his second season.

Well, the Broncos are now 13-3 and have clinched the AFC West. They are a 12.5-point favorite Sunday at Empower Field at Mile High against the Los Angeles Chargers (11-5), who will rest star quarterback Justin Herbert and some other starters due to having clinched a playoff berth and knowing they will open on the road.

If the Broncos win in the regular-season finale, they would be assured of the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoff race, giving them a bye in the wild-card round and setting up two possible home playoff games. Then, if the Broncos, who have won 12 of their last 13 home games, win those two, they would head to Santa Clara, California, for Super Bowl LX on Feb. 8.

“I’ve coached a number of teams that I had a tremendous amount of confidence in, and I thought it was important that these guys understood,’’ Payton said about getting the Super Bowl talk going. “That topic can be comfortable to talk about, and it’s OK to talk about.”

Many Broncos players say they have embraced the talk. Rather than put any extra pressure on them, it has given them additional confidence.

“I think so, yeah,’’ said tackle Mike McGlinchey. “Everything has to start with belief. If you don’t believe you can do it, you probably can’t. I think when Sean said those things (in April) and he’s convicted in it, it trickles down to everybody. As this season has gone on, we’ve kind of proven that we’re capable of winning every game we’re in, and that’s what we’ve been trying to do.”

McGlinchey, in his third Denver season, said last April was the first time Payton had mentioned the Broncos had a team capable of winning the Super Bowl.

“He doesn’t say it all the time,’’ McGlinchey said. “It carries weight when you say it, and he tells you that he actually believes it. It’s not rah-rah. It’s for real.”

It helps that Payton has won a Super Bowl before. His Saints went 13-3 in the regular season in 2009 and went on to defeat the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 in Super Bowl XLIV in February 2010.

Tight end Adam Trautman played for Payton on the Saints from 2020-21 and has been with him all three seasons in Denver. He called it “a huge deal” when Payton began talking before this season about a belief that the Broncos can win the Super Bowl.

“It’s not like he’s a first-, second- or third-year coach coming in and just saying that, right? And it’s kind of an empty thought because you don’t know what it’s like,’’ Trautman said. “But he knows exactly what it looks like. Not only with Super Bowls, but just successful teams that can knock on the door every year.

“He wasn’t vocalizing that years before. He says it when he means it and it wasn’t like he got here and was immediately (saying that) this is a Super Bowl team right away… It’s a motivation thing as well. You feel motivated by that because you have this Hall of Fame coach who’s been there (and) done that, telling you what this team is capable of. So definite confidence booster.”

Kicker Wil Lutz played with Payton on the Saints from 2016-21 and has been with him all three years in Denver. He admires Payton for not just telling players they are capable of winning the Super Bowl but also having gone public with it.

“He expressed confidence in his locker room,’’ Lutz said. “I think a lot of people are afraid to do that for some reason. People know that Sean is not worried about his tongue. He speaks how he feels. He’s an emotional guy. When he’s got a good feeling about something, he’s not afraid to hide it, and I think that’s important to this locker room, to know that he’s not afraid to talk about what we’re capable of.”

Lutz said Payton talked openly to the team about winning a Super Bowl with the Saints when “we had Drew (Brees) at quarterback.” Brees, expected to be a first-ballot inductee this year into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, played for Payton on the Saints from 2006-20 and led them to the NFC Championship Game three times and to the Super Bowl win.

The Saints came close to going to another Super Bowl in the 2018 season, losing the NFC Championship Game 26-23 in overtime at home to the Los Angeles Rams. A botched non-call for pass interference late in regulation likely kept the Saints from winning the game in regulation.

Lutz kicked a 31-yard field goal with 1:41 left in regulation that gave the Saints a 23-20 lead. Had the pass interference been called, New Orleans could have run the clock down and kicked the winning field goal on the final play. But the Rams ended up getting a last-second field goal to force overtime and then won the game with an overtime field goal.

Seven years later, Lutz said Payton’s Super Bowl talk has ignited the Broncos.

“I think it’s important to know that no one is second-guessing what we have here, and it starts at the top,’’ Lutz said. “Obviously, I think the team has rallied behind that.”