The race for the AFC playoffs over the last month is going to be intense. The Baltimore Ravens, Miami Dolphins, Jacksonville Jaguars and Kansas City Chiefs are your current division leaders but it's the positioning for the three Wild Card spots that is going to be most interesting.
The Denver Broncos figure prominently in that race, though they could still come away with the AFC West crown this season.
As of this writing, there are six teams in AFC that sit at 7-6, with the Broncos being one of those. The Cleveland Browns, currently the top Wild Card team, are 8-5. But a lot can change over the next four weeks.
ESPN has a great feature known as the NFL playoff machine. There, you can predict the remainder of the NFL season and see how the playoffs are set. For the purpose of this discussion, that is exactly what I did.
The Broncos face a good Detroit Lions team this Sunday in what many could consider a must-win game. I tend to disagree. In fact, under these predictions, the Broncos make the playoffs even with a loss this weekend.