The Denver Broncos had every opportunity last Thursday night to make the postseason and control the narrative, but after losing to the Los Angeles Chargers, they must win one of their final two games to get in. This week’s message is simple — control your destiny.
Denver Broncos receive zero help in AFC Playoff push in Week 16
As a player or coach, you never want to have your post-season hopes lay in the hands of another team, even though you’d welcome the help at times. The Broncos are in a simple position to make the postseason — just win.
One win is the key for the Broncos first post-season berth since 2015, but it won’t come easy. The Cincinnati Bengals are next up on the schedule, followed by the Kansas City Chiefs to conclude the season.
Even though Denver lost against the Chargers, there was still a chance they could have made the playoffs, but they needed everything to go their way. They needed the Bengals to lose to the Cleveland Browns, the Indianapolis Colts to lose to the Tennessee Titans, and the Miami Dolphins to lose against the San Francisco 49ers in order to have secured a spot on Sunday.
That didn’t happen, and it makes the Broncos post-season ambitions boil down to what they do, which is how any player or coach wants it. However, the pressure is ramping up for the Broncos to control their own destiny.
Joe Burrow and the Bengals offense will be the most explosive unit the Broncos have faced all season, with Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins lighting things up in the receiving game, Burrow’s MVP level of play at QB, and the explosive capability of Chase Brown to break off a big run inside or outside. We’ve said it for three weeks now — this is the Broncos biggest game of the season.
Broncos head coach Sean Payton met with us on Sunday morning, and acknowledged that there’s pressure, but it’s something that they face every week. He didn’t shy away from saying that he believes the sense of urgency will be much higher this week though.
“Each week we play there’s always pressure,” Payton said. “I guarantee you none of our players said there’s going to be more pressure. There’s going to be a sense of urgency always. There’s a lot of different scenarios. I think the focal point always is on the game you’re playing. That’s the one thing that you can control. I look forward to having a good week. We will have a full week. Today will be much like a Monday. Tomorrow for us and our players will be like a Tuesday and then we get ready and go to work. So it’s the next challenge. There will be a number of things you learn from this game and then you move on.”
Denver has to learn from the coverage mistakes they hand underneath against the Chargers and must find a way to sustain the offense for more than just a half of play. Saturday’s game is a playoff game for the Broncos.