After barely getting into the playoffs, the San Diego Chargers will be facing off against Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos after upsetting the Cincinnati Bengals in the Wild Card Game. For the Broncos, their opponent for the Divisional Round was going to be one of two evils. Either the Chargers, who beat the Broncos 27-20 in Week 15 or the Indianapolis Colts, who beat the Broncos 39-33 back in Week 7. Denver will hope this weekend looks more like the 28-20 win from Week 10 against San Diego to prevent the second one-and-done playoff appearance in two seasons.
Broncos fans, however, don’t seem to be concerned with the opponent. The get-in price of $156 trails only Seattle for the most expensive of the weekend. This game is also 110% above the average price of the Week 15 Thursday night game between these two teams in Denver.
Each team won on the road in the two division games during the regular season. Both games were only decided by one possession, so this weekend could see another close game. Denver finished with the league’s best offense, a quarterback breaking the single-season records for passing yards and passing touchdowns can do that, and San Diego finished with one of the league’s worst defenses. The Chargers, though, were able to hold the Broncos under 30 points in both regular season games and the defense was able to hold the Bengals to just 10 points in the first round of the playoffs.
With the strength of both teams being their passing game and the weakness being the pass defense, this could be a game of dueling touchdown from Peyton Manning and Philip Rivers. If that’s the case and the game turns into a shootout like Denver’s 51-48 Week 5 win in Dallas, no price could match the excitement a game like that could bring to this already thrilling NFL playoffs.
It may not be likely that happens, but the Broncos still have a tougher road to the Super Bowl than they planned on having after a first-round bye. It’s a high price for tickets, but Denver fans don’t seem to mind if it gets them one step closer to the game in MetLife Stadium.