National Football League

Path to playoffs now more complicated for Broncos

Published Dec. 28, 2009 7:41 p.m. ET

foxsports

Josh McDaniels knows the Denver Broncos' path to the playoffs has become convoluted and quite complicated.

The first-year head coach was briefed on all the possible scenarios that need to unfold just for the Broncos to sneak in.

Knowing all the scenarios, though, doesn't help that much. Not when a once-promising season is suddenly in peril.

Who would've thought Denver would now need assistance from other teams to reach the postseason after a sizzling 6-0 start?

The Broncos (8-7) have faltered near the finish, veering off postseason course as they dropped their third straight game Sunday in Philadelphia.

They're in quite a bind - but it's not hopeless.

And that's what McDaniels is stressing to his team leading up to the season finale Sunday against Kansas City. That's the one factor in this snarled AFC wild-card picture the Broncos can control.

``I don't think hoping for something else to happen while you're playing or while you're getting ready to play the game is going to do you any good,'' McDaniels said Monday. ``We understand that we have a chance, we understand that we have a chance not to be in even if we do win. I'm not going to spend a lot of time talking about scenarios.''

That's good, because some of his players really don't want to hear about those scenarios.

``Right now, I do not know anything and I do not want to know anything,'' quarterback Kyle Orton said Sunday after a 30-27 loss to the Eagles.

That may be best because there's at least 10 different scenarios under which the Broncos can slip in. The easiest way is if two of these three teams lose: Baltimore, Pittsburgh and the New York Jets.

The Ravens travel to Oakland, while Pittsburgh plays in Miami and the Jets host Cincinnati.

Stranger things have happened - like the Broncos going on a 2-7 skid after being the talk of the league following their torrid start.

Just like that, they're dangling on the verge of missing the playoffs for the fourth straight season. Not since early in the franchise's existence has it gone four straight seasons without a playoff appearance, a drought finally halted when the Broncos made the Super Bowl in their first trip to the postseason in 1977.

``We put ourselves in this position that we are in right now,'' receiver Jabar Gaffney said. ``We just need to worry about ourselves right now and our own destiny and play as hard as we can against Kansas City next weekend.''

The Houston Texas could be an X-factor for the Broncos in this tricky formula, provided they beat the New England Patriots. If there's a glut of teams tied at 9-7, and the Texans remain one of them, that could swing some of the tiebreaker scenarios in Denver's favor.

Might McDaniels call up his former boss, Bill Belichick, and possibly suggest to him that he rest Tom Brady & Co. for the game in Houston?

``Umm, no,'' McDaniels, said, grinning. ``I'm not going to place any phone calls in that regard.''

To think, this was once a team running away with the AFC West. Denver had a 3 1/2-game lead over San Diego heading into the bye week in mid October.

But that bye arrived at an inconvenient time, interrupting the Broncos' momentum.

They haven't been able to get it back, and the Chargers quickly passed them by on the way to another division crown.

McDaniels chalked it up to execution late in games. They were in a position to beat Indianapolis in the fourth quarter but didn't.

The next week, the Broncos had a chance to put Oakland away late, but couldn't stop a last-minute drive.

Against the Eagles, Denver stormed back from a 27-10 deficit only to tumble on David Akers' field goal in the closing seconds.

``You're playing good football teams at the end of the season that are all playing their best, a lot of them playing for something,'' McDaniels said. ``We've been in position and we've made plays to win games late during the course of this season, too. We just haven't done it the last few weeks and it's definitely come back to hurt us.''

Brian Dawkins couldn't agree more.

``Too many mistakes. Too many mistakes,'' Dawkins said Sunday after his emotional return to Philadelphia. ``It seems like we are going through growing pains at the wrong time of the year. Every time you make mistakes against a good football team, we've said this many, many times, this is what happens - you come up a little short.''