There is no hiding the fact that among the teams still realistically in the hunt, the Denver Broncos face the toughest road to the playoffs in the NFL. Clinging to the No. 6 seed in the AFC at 8-5, Denver will square off against three teams with a combined record of 31-8 to conclude the season – beginning with No. 1 seed New England on Sunday. The reigning Super Bowl champs are now underdogs. A role Aqib Talib is embracing.
“It’s December in the NFL,” Talib said, “so you’ve either got a chance or you don’t. And we definitely still got a chance right now. So we’re going to prepare like we got a chance to get in the tournament.”
Following a loss to the Tennessee Titans, those chances are diminishing. FiveThirtyEight.com currently gives Denver a 52 percent chance of making the playoffs; that’s an 18 percent drop from last week. And now they’re facing the three best teams in the AFC with those odds diminishing.
“It’s football,” Talib said about the challenge. “It’s competition. That’s the reason we play the game. We love the competition. So, if we’re going to do something, we’ve got to be great. Right? So, let’s be great.”
Bryant McFadden and Clement Townsend of 120 Sports know it’s a tough road ahead for Denver, but think if the Broncos can survive this final gauntlet they could be dangerous once in the playoffs.
McFadden is very confident in the defense, but still worries about the struggling offense. He’s come around on Trevor Siemian though, saying the young QB is doing everything the Broncos need to put his team in position to win. Now Siemian just needs some support from the run game and the offensive line.
Talib and the defense will continue to do their part. Now it’s up to the offense to rise to the challenge and be great, themselves.