The Broncos know what is at stake against Bengals

It’s December 14th and the Denver Broncos are in the thick of the AFC playoff hunt. It’s been a long time since I’ve written those words here... and it feels good. However, it could all come crashing to an end with a home loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday. Both teams are 7-6 and neither team can afford to give up a spot in this logjam of teams fighting for those final playoff spots.

Even so, it feels good. Head coach Vic Fangio likes being in the mix too and is focusing on getting this team prepared to make some waves in these final four games.

“It’s definitely good,” Fangio said of being in the playoff picture with four games to go. “There’s no denying that. I think it’s good for obviously us—the team and players. I think it’s good for our fans. I think it’s good for you guys to cover something with a little more pop to it. We’ve got to be one game at a time. We said after the Kansas City game we’ve got five games left, and that was going to determine what happened. We passed the first test, and we’ve got to go after the second one.”

The one game at a time mentality has been one that has been echoed in previous weeks, but the results have been a bit of a mixed bag. Most of that is due to offensive inefficiency in the red zone. While the turnovers are significantly down from 2020, the lack of success in the red zone is about the same as it was last season.

They could be a lot better. The games they won in 2020 were close, could go either way type games, while in 2021 they are winning in convincing fashion. The problem is, when they lose they tend to lose in convincing fashion as well.

“I think we could have had a better record,” Fangio said. “It would have been nice to grab one or two more of those losses, but we’re playing good football right now overall. We have our issues that we have to get solved like everybody does, but I feel good about our team moving forward to these last four games.”

I’m personally with Fangio on this assessment. They had a few opportunities to win games that they just let get away from them. How much better it would have been to be 8-5 or 9-4 right now instead of 7-6, but it is what it is. This team has to prove it can put together a consistent week-to-week performance if they want to do some damage down the stretch.

I’m here for it.

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