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The Denver Broncos will play someone on Sunday, January 11th. Whom they'll play hasn't quite been decided.
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It's down to three teams: the Pittsburgh Steelers (11-5, 3rd seed), the Indianapolis Colts (11-5, 4th seed), or the Cincinnati Bengals (10-5-1, 5th seed) The Broncos cannot play the Baltimore Ravens (10-6, 6th seed) in the Divisional Round because a Ravens win would guarantee them a trip to face the first seed New England Patriots (12-4).
Who the Broncos would play
The short version:
- If the Steelers win, the Broncos will play the Steelers.
- Otherwise (if the Ravens win), the Broncos will play the winner of Bengals at Colts.
The short-short version: the Broncos will play the highest remaining seed of these three teams.
Wild Card odds
Both home teams are favorites. As of Monday, the Steelers are 3.5-point favorites to beat the Ravens in Pittsburgh.
The Colts are 4-point favorites to beat the Bengals in Indianapolis after opening as 6-point favorites.
Either or both of these lines may keep moving.
Steelers, Colts or Bengals?
I took these odds and turned them into percentage-chances of a straight up victory using this chart.
BAL at PIT winner | CIN at IND winner | % chance | DEN would play |
|
---|---|---|---|---|
Scenario 1 | ![]() |
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42.3% | ![]() |
Scenario 2 | ![]() |
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22.0% | ![]() |
Scenario 3 | ![]() |
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23.5% | ![]() |
Scenario 4 | ![]() |
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12.2% | ![]() |
Based on those odds Monday morning and seeding rules, the Broncos have a 64.3% chance of playing the Steelers in the Divisional Round. The Broncos have a 23.5% chance of playing the Colts, and they have a 12.2% chance of playing the Bengals.
While most of Broncos Country wants revenge on the Bengals in two weeks, odds are, it'll be the Steelers coming to town.