The Broncos didn’t get any help in their playoff quest

The Denver Broncos still have a postseason spot within their grasp. One more win will stamp their ticket for their first playoff excursion in eight years.

But a potential back-door path to playing on the second weekend of January did not materialize from Sunday’s NFL results. Both the Cincinnati Bengals and Indianapolis Colts won, moving to 7-8 and narrowing the gap between them and the 9-6 Broncos.

Another team still in the mix, the Miami Dolphins, kicked off in the late-afternoon window against the San Francisco 49ers.

Denver could have sealed its playoff spot had it held off the Los Angeles Chargers last Thursday, but it frittered away an 11-point third-quarter lead in the 34-27 setback.

That left the Broncos glancing at the Sunday outcomes.

The Bengals stayed alive with their third-consecutive win, easing past the Cleveland Browns 24-6. Cincinnati took a 17-0 lead before Cleveland finally got on the scoreboard, and then capitalized off of a pair of Browns penalties in goal-to-go to thwart another potential touchdown drive with a Jordan Battle end-zone interception.

A perfectly-placed 32-yard Joe Burrow-to-Jamarr Chase touchdown provided the final margin as the Bengals got only their second home win this season against five defeats.

That win guarantees that the Bengals will remain alive in the postseason race when they kick off against the Broncos next Saturday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. MST. It will be the third nationally-televised game for the Broncos this month.

The Colts held off the Tennessee Titans for a 38-30 win to remain in the race. Indianapolis stormed to a 38-7 lead, only to lapse and allow the struggling Titans to sprint back into the game before stringing together a pair of first downs on the game’s final drive to escape.

Despite the Broncos’ win over the Colts last week, they could still lose tiebreakers with Indianapolis that involve three or four teams.

This is because the head-to-head result would be discarded, leaving the tiebreaker to go to conference record. In a 3-, 4- or even a 5-way tiebreak at 9-8 with the Colts, the Broncos would fall short based on a 5-7 conference record if they lose their final two games.

Everything remains in the Broncos’ hands. And they might get a helping hand from the Chiefs on Wednesday, as a Kansas City win on Christmas over Pittsburgh would give the two-time defending world champions the No. 1 seed and likely lead to a flood of backups playing in the Week 18 season finale at Empower Field at Mile High.

A Buffalo loss to New England would also clinch the No. 1 seed for Kansas City.

But for now, the heat on the Broncos increased by just a little bit more Sunday.

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