DENVER \u2014 The path is now clear.<\/p>\n
Two more wins, and the Broncos will be Santa Clara-bound.<\/p>\n
Check that: Two home wins, and the Denver Broncos will be boarding a flight to Super Bowl LX.<\/p>\n
As the Broncos clinched the No. 1 seed in the AFC with a 19-3 win on Sunday over the Los Angeles Chargers, that reality suddenly felt within reach.<\/p>\n
A far-off goal that the Broncos have been chasing since the summer is now within striking distance.<\/p>\n
“It’s significant,” said Head Coach Sean Payton of earning the AFC’s top seed, “and the reason is, you can see the light. Two home wins \u2014 and that’s exciting. It’s why you do all of it. It’s why you work late hours. It’s why the players train and lift. It’s a big deal.”<\/p>\n
It’s the latest step for an organization that returned to the playoffs a year ago and then wanted more. The Broncos pointed to winning the AFC West as a goal following last season’s postseason loss to Buffalo, and they recently earned their first division title in a decade. That accomplishment guaranteed at least one home playoff game \u2014 and Sunday night’s victory promised even more, if the Broncos keep winning.<\/p>\n
“It just shows the toughness and just the will and the ability to keep being able to grow,” outside linebacker Nik Bonitto said of the team’s progression. “I feel like it’s been pretty special being a part of that.”<\/p>\n
Denver won’t know its divisional opponent for another week, but the Broncos do know that the road to Super Bowl LX runs through the Mile High City.<\/p>\n
“We feel like, as a team, we have a lot to correct and a lot to adjust, but at the end of the day, we are glad we have home-field advantage,” cornerback Pat Surtain II said. “You need as much of an advantage going into the playoffs [as possible]. That’s a huge part of it, securing the No. 1 seed and getting home-field advantage. That’s big time for us. I feel like we aren’t a finished product. We aren’t where we want to be yet.”<\/p>\n
And while Surtain acknowledged the Broncos can be “dangerous” with home-field advantage, Denver knows there are corrections to be made if the team hopes to take advantage of the opportunity ahead.<\/p>\n
“You still have to take it one step at a time,” tight end Evan Engram said. “We still have to stay present where our feet are and prepare for the moment. That moment will come if we handle this moment correctly.”<\/p>\n
Payton, who became the fifth coach in NFL history to lead two different organizations to a No. 1 seed in his career, acknowledged the Broncos’ room to improve even as they now chase their final goal of a championship.<\/p>\n
“To be able to host the Divisional Round is significant,” Payton said. “Yes, we have to clean some things up, and we will. We’ll be ready.”<\/p>\n
As the Broncos prepare, the ultimate goal that they’ve been chasing for months is now within sight.<\/p>\n
“It’s special,” inside linebacker Alex Singleton said. “That’s the goal. You want to be the [No.] 1 seed. We are the [No. 1] seed. \u2026 You can see the light.<\/p>\n
“Let’s go get the job done, win three and get to raise the Lombardi.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DENVER \u2014 The path is now clear. Two more wins, and the Broncos will be Santa Clara-bound. Check…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":655106,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2062],"tags":[1010,232,231,258,2426,7,17412,77161,6,1004],"class_list":["post-655105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-denver-broncos","tag-aric-dilalla","tag-broncos","tag-denver","tag-denver-broncos","tag-denverbroncos","tag-football","tag-game-day","tag-los-angeles-chargers-at-denver-broncos-2025-reg-18","tag-nfl","tag-top-stories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115840828468698781","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655105","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=655105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/655106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=655105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=655105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=655105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}