Following their 38-0 win over the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 18, the Denver Broncos are now ranked 14th in Nate Davis’ NFL playoffs power rankings for USA TODAY Sports. With 14 teams making the postseason, Davis has Denver ranked as the worst team in the playoffs.
Here is Davis’ commentary on the Broncos going into the first round of the NFL playoffs:
Firstly, dap ‘em up. Almost no one – me included – gave them even a remote shot to get this far with a rookie quarterback (Bo Nix), a lack of topflight offensive weaponry, an unproven defense or a salary cap crippled by the early release of Nix’s predecessor, Russell Wilson, last March. Props, Sean Payton.
Now, let’s be real – given, after all, cold reality is about to set in. The Chiefs effectively waved the Broncos, who failed to clinch a wild card in Weeks 16 and 17, into the postseason Sunday – because Kansas City and everyone else in the field would rather be potentially game-planning for the Broncos than Joe Burrow and the scalding Cincinnati Bengals, who would have qualified had Denver lost in Week 18. Regardless of who obtained the AFC’s No. 7 seed, a Super Bowl trip was always going to be a tough assignment given the path, at minimum, would require wins at Buffalo and Arrowhead to even reach the conference title game.
Good work, Broncos, but your job – for this season anyway – is just about done.
Elsewhere in the AFC West, the Kansas City Chiefs are ranked No. 1 and the Los Angeles Chargers are ranked No. 10. The Las Vegas Raiders did not make the playoffs.
The Buffalo Bills, who will host the Broncos in the Wild Card round of the NFL playoffs, are ranked No. 5.
To view the complete playoff power rankings, visit USATODAY.com.
