The Denver Broncos were on their bye in Week 14 and were at home watching the latest action. What are their playoff odds at this point? Here. We. Go! The Denver Broncos are on the cusp of snapping the second-longest playoff drought streak in the NFL. They have not been back to the postseason since 2015 and are 8-5 on the year.
With the Los Angeles Chargers losing to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday Night Football in Week 14, all of the Chargers, Broncos, and Baltimore Ravens sit at 8-5 on the season. Denver is the last team in the Wild Card standings, as they have lost to both Baltimore and LA, but they could still pass both.
Week 14 did bring the AFC Playoff Picture a bit tighter. And while the Broncos are still in the seventh seed, they could rise as high as the fifth seed. The final four games for them, the Ravens, and the Chargers are going to be huge.
The Denver Broncos are creeping closer...
According to NFL Next Gen Stats, the Broncos do have a 77% to make the playoffs, and below them, the only other teams who remain in the picture are the Indianapolis Colts, Miami Dolphins, and Cincinnati Bengals, who have 24%, 15%, and 2% playoff chances respectively.
It would be a historic collapse if Denver did not get it, and one of the most clear clinching scenarios is available to them: the Broncos would need to beat the Colts and one other team, and have the Miami Dolphins lose one more game to make the postseason.
This would give Denver the tiebreaker over Indy. Two more wins would give them 10 on the year, and another Dolphins loss would give them eight losses, which would make it impossible for the Fins to reach 10 wins. The Dolphins nearly lost to the New York Jets in Week 14, but I guess no one can rely on the Jets to do anything good at this point.
A victory over the Colts in Week 15 would seriously elevate their postseason chances, and that game could be the most important in the post-Super Bowl 50 era, period. I know we throw that term around a lot, but this is truly where we're at right now.
Can the Denver Broncos win two more games and make the playoffs for the first time since the 2015 NFL Season? Can they finish the job?