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Denver Broncos: Making sense of possible playoff paths

By Tylor Walden

CINCINNATI, OH - DECEMBER 2: Justin Simmons #31 of the Denver Broncos celebrates with his teammates after intercepting a pass during the third quarter of the game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium on December 2, 2018 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
CINCINNATI, OH - DECEMBER 2: Justin Simmons #31 of the Denver Broncos celebrates with his teammates after intercepting a pass during the third quarter of the game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium on December 2, 2018 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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Denver Broncos
DENVER, CO – NOVEMBER 25: Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger #7 of the Pittsburgh Steelers passes from the end zone under pressure by defensive end Shelby Harris #96 of the Denver Broncos in the third quarter of a game at Broncos Stadium at Mile High on November 25, 2018 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images) /

Pittsburgh Steelers (7-4-1): How Denver can pass them

With the Steelers losing two games in a row against the Broncos and Chargers, that opens up the door for the Broncos to pass them. But they are going to need a bit of help from a team that handed Denver their first loss of the season.

As it stands right now, the Steelers only hold a half-game lead on the Baltimore Ravens for the AFC North lead. These last two losses in the final minute have done a lot of damage to Pittsburgh. The tie at the beginning of the season against the Browns could come back to bite them.

Here is Pittsburgh’s remaining schedule:

at Oakland Raiders

vs. New England Patriots

at New Orleans Saints

vs. Cincinnati Bengals

Those games against the Patriots and Saints are not going to be easy. It is almost a certainty that Pittsburgh needs to win at least one of those two games to fend off the teams ahead of them.

How can Denver pass this team? Well, this is where Baltimore comes in. Since both Pittsburgh and Baltimore are separated by half a game, Baltimore just needs a win and a Pittsburgh loss to leap past them.

Denver would like to see the Ravens win the AFC North in this instance. That would bump the Steelers into the wild card battle. Pittsburgh would lose the head to head tiebreaker over both the Chargers and Broncos, so the minimum would be  both Pittsburgh and Denver finishing with the same record while Baltimore wins the AFC North.

If Denver wins out, Pittsburgh would need to go 2-2 for Denver to surpass them and Baltimore would need to lock up the division.

This could be the most realistic situation.

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