ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Nathaniel Hackett has already called becoming the 18th head coach in Denver Broncos' history a "dream" job.

He enthusiastically arrives with the team's recurring struggles on offense high atop his tidy to-do list. But he also arrives at a time when a return to heavyweight status in the AFC is far more complicated than simply landing a good quarterback.

It's a conference already full of young, high-wire passers, all 26 years old or younger, led by the Alpha, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who also happens to lead a division rival the Broncos haven't beaten since Sept. 17, 2015. So, yeah, the Broncos need to get the whole quarterback thing straightened out, but they're going to need a lot more if they want to carve out a postseason run.

"This division is arguably the best division in football," Hackett said. "... We're going to have to find a way to win, it's that simple."

Just minutes after his last game as the Broncos' coach and what was also the 13th consecutive loss to Kansas City, Vic Fangio spelled out the dilemma in the AFC West simply.

"Well those other three teams have top-shelf quarterbacks -- which is obvious to everybody," Fangio said.

Expand that out into the AFC overall and the challenge that awaits Hackett and the Broncos is more than a little daunting.

Mahomes is 26, having not even reached his prime years but already holding an MVP award and a Super Bowl MVP. The Chiefs have won a Super Bowl under Mahomes, have lost another and have played in the AFC Championship four consecutive times.

He's just the first domino. Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen is 25, Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert is 23 and Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is 25. Oh, and as long as lists are being made Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, who has already played four seasons as well as won an MVP award, is 28 days younger than Burrow.

That doesn't even include 2021 AFC rookie quarterbacks Trevor Lawrence, Zach Wilson and Davis Mills.

As Broncos general manager George Paton put it this past week: "These [playoff] offenses are dynamic and we have a long way to go in that capacity, we need to get better on offense, we need to score a lot more points. We need to be more explosive ... but we also need to be better on special teams and we don't want to take a step back on defense."

Of the AFC's youthful uber quarterbacks corps, the Broncos faced Mahomes, Herbert, Wilson, Lawrence, Jackson and Burrow a total of eight times this past season. They went 3-5 in those games, with two of the wins over the rookies -- Lawrence and Wilson -- coming in their second and third career starts, respectively.

In short, Hackett's ability to end the Broncos' six-year playoff drought hinges on far more than who is behind center. Yes, finding the long-term solution at quarterback is at the top of the team's priorities, but Broncos haven't only struggled on offense in recent years. They had two four-game losing streaks this past season, two three-game losing streaks in 2020, a four-game losing streak in 2019, two four-game losing streaks in 2018 and an eight-game losing streak in 2017.

That is the losing culture some of the Broncos' more experienced players, such as safety Justin Simmons and defensive end Shelby Harris, have pointed at. The Broncos haven't made enough game-changing plays on offense, defense or their exceedingly unreliable special teams.

"If you had an exact answer nobody would have a losing streak," Hackett said. "I think in the end ... this business is about making relationships, making relationships with these players and [the players] understand the man standing in front of them is going to put them in the best situation possible and they have confidence that when they go out I've got their back. That when those things happen for everybody to hold each other accountable, them holding me accountable and me holding them accountable. When you have that you can work through anything."

"We need to play better in our division, we need to play better at home," Paton said. "... Every move we make is going to be to try and get better in our division. We know we're behind, and we know we need to do better."