The Denver Broncos find themselves at a surprising 8-5 coming off their bye week and control their destiny for the 2024 NFL playoffs. Considered to be a favorite for the first overall pick in the 2025 draft, the Broncos have shocked fans and analysts alike, and are a heavy favorite to make the playoffs this year.
If the Broncos are to get there, the job rests solely on the experienced shoulders of head coach Sean Payton, who is looking to make the playoffs in his second season in Denver. The task in front of him could not be more clear, as a win in week 15 over the Colts can all but punch their ticket to meaning football games in January.
Broncos can continue unlikely playoff run with big win vs. Colts in Week 15
The Broncos have been one of the biggest surprises in football in some time. Rookie quarterback Bo Nix was the 6th quarterback taken in April’s draft and already finds himself as one of the game’s more stable signal callers. He is in a two-man race for rookie of the year with Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels and was arguably the steal of the first round. Nix caught major criticism coming out of the draft, whether it be for his style of play or his advanced age relative to the rest of the draft field, but he has quickly settled in and has become the face of a Broncos franchise that has, very publically, gone through its share of quarterbacks in the last decade.
Of note for the Broncos, they were ridiculed publically from many fronts after they decided to part ways with now-Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson after an 8-9 season. While Wilson’s stat line seemed fine, it was clear to all involved that he and the Broncos were not a good fit for each other. Wison is playing his best football since the pandemic for the Steelers, while the Broncos are working off the dead cap from releasing him. If Wilson was playing at the level he is and the Broncos were not in the playoff mix, things might have gotten ugly in Denver.
Despite all of this and everything that has gone right for Sean Payton, George Paton, and the Walton-Penner ownership group, the job is not done yet.
The Broncos must cross the finish line, and end the second-longest playoff drought in the NFL today. By doing so, they signal the start of a new era and a new reality for what will surely be considered one of the NFL’s premier destinations for free agents.
Sean Payton’s legacy in Denver relies on these next few weeks. His first job is to beat the Colts. If he does so, the Broncos’ magic number to clinch a playoff spot falls to two. The Dolphins travel to the Texans this week, meaning that if favorites in the AFC playoff picture win on Sunday, the Broncos’ magic number falls to one. That would mean that any one more win gets the Broncos to the playoffs.
The Broncos cannot afford to lose to the Colts. If they do, questions will surely arise, and doubt will creep in. For themselves, the playoffs, the franchise, and the fans, the team must treat Sunday as a must-win, and they need to find a way to get to 9-5 and possibly just a win away from returning to the playoffs for the first time since Manning.
This article was originally published on predominantlyorange.com as Broncos face the biggest test in a decade on Sunday vs. Colts.