{"id":108279,"date":"2025-06-06T10:03:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-06T10:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/108279\/"},"modified":"2025-06-06T10:03:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T10:03:11","slug":"denver-broncos-wont-have-to-face-kansas-city-chiefs-best-with-playoffs-on-the-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/108279\/","title":{"rendered":"Denver Broncos won’t have to face Kansas City Chiefs’ best with playoffs on the line"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Denver Broncos<\/a>‘ playoff hopes got a boost Wednesday when Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid announced star quarterback Patrick Mahomes and several other starters will sit out Sunday’s game in Denver to rest up for the playoffs.<\/p>\n

The Broncos (9-7) can clinch their first playoff berth in nine years with a win or tie Sunday<\/a> against the Chiefs (15-1) in their final regular-season game.<\/p>\n

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The Broncos could still reach the playoffs with a loss Sunday against the Chiefs, but they would need the Cincinnati Bengals (8-8) and Miami Dolphins (8-8) to both lose or tie their games this weekend, according to playoff scenarios released Monday by the NFL.<\/p>\n

Reid said backup Carson Wentz would start at quarterback for the Chiefs<\/a> in place of Mahomes. Wentz, 32, signed with the Chiefs in the offseason and hasn’t started a game since Week 18 of the 2023-24 season, when he was with the Los Angeles Rams. He has thrown just two passes this season for the Chiefs, completing both.<\/p>\n

More: How to buy Denver Broncos vs. Kansas City Chiefs NFL Week 18 tickets<\/a><\/p>\n

Several other starters will also sit out, Reid said at a news conference, giving them as many as 25 days of rest between games. The Chiefs last played on Christmas Day and won’t play again until the divisional round of the playoffs, having already secured the No. 1 seed in the AFC and homefield advantage throughout the playoffs.<\/p>\n

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“It wasn’t a hard decision,” Reid said. “I’ve been through it before. I’m not too worried. It gives the other guys an opportunity to grow.”<\/p>\n

Broncos need help if they lose to Chiefs<\/p>\n

Denver loses tiebreakers to both the Bengals and Dolphins if they finish with the same record as either team. The Broncos lost head-to-head with the Bengals last Saturday, falling 30-24 in overtime. Denver didn\u2019t play Miami this season.<\/p>\n

Cincinnati plays at Pittsburgh (10-6) on Saturday night, with both teams still in the hunt for playoff berths. The Bengals need a win against the Steelers, a loss by the Broncos and a loss or tie by the Miami Dolphins (8-8) to make the playoffs.<\/p>\n

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Miami visits the New York Jets on Sunday in a game scheduled to begin at the same time as the Chiefs-Broncos game, 2:25 p.m. MST.<\/p>\n

Denver hasn\u2019t made the playoffs since the 2015 season, when the Broncos beat the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50.<\/p>\n

USA TODAY reporter Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz contributed to this story.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Broncos won’t have to face Chiefs’ best with playoffs on the line<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Denver Broncos‘ playoff hopes got a boost Wednesday when Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid announced star…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108280,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2062],"tags":[501,232,260,1763,256,231,258,2426,7,110,58,251,255,6,499,520,359,426,2975],"class_list":{"0":"post-108279","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-broncos","8":"tag-andy-reid","9":"tag-broncos","10":"tag-carolina-panthers","11":"tag-carson-wentz","12":"tag-cincinnati-bengals","13":"tag-denver","14":"tag-denver-broncos","15":"tag-denverbroncos","16":"tag-football","17":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs","18":"tag-los-angeles-rams","19":"tag-miami-dolphins","20":"tag-new-york-jets","21":"tag-nfl","22":"tag-patrick-mahomes","23":"tag-pittsburgh","24":"tag-playoffs","25":"tag-steelers","26":"tag-the-bengals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114635853362449405","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}