The Denver Broncos and Cincinnati Bengals were both 7-6 going into Sunday’s game at Empower Field at Mile High, both just outside the AFC’s Playoff standings.
After the Bengals won 15-10, they jumped up to the No. 4 seed in the AFC while the Broncos dropped down to the No. 12 seed (seven teams make the playoffs). Granted, Cincy jumped so high because they are now leading their division, and a win wouldn’t have put Denver in first in the AFC West, but a win obviously would have been a big boost to the Broncos’ playoff chances.
After the loss, Denver now has just a 5% chance to make the postseason, according to an Elo forecast from FiveThirtyEight.com.
The Broncos, of course, aren’t giving up hope.
“I know the percentages [of making the playoffs] drop — maybe even drastically,” safety Justin Simmons said on Sunday evening. “By no means does that mean the last three games, especially divisional games, are we saying ‘Let’s just finish out these last three games and whatever’ — no. If other teams lose and we win, we still have a shot.”
Denver has upcoming road games against the Las Vegas Raiders and Los Angeles Chargers before closing out the season at home against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 18. The Broncos will probably need to win out and get some help from other teams to have a chance to reach the playoffs, and the chances of that are slim.
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