Where the Broncos now stand in the AFC playoff race

With Sunday’s 16-3 home loss to the New England Patriots, the Denver Broncos no longer control its own destiny in terms of a postseason berth.

The loss drops Denver to 8-6, in a four-way tie with the Baltimore Ravens, Tennessee Titans, and Houston Texans, and out of the postseason picture.

If the playoffs started today, the Texans would earn a slot as the AFC South champion, the Pittsburgh Steelers (9-5) are in by winning the AFC North, and the Miami Dolphins (9-5) and Kansas City Chiefs (10-4) take the final two seeds by virtue of the wild card.

New England’s win gives them the AFC East title and a first-round bye, while the Oakland Raiders clinched a playoff berth with a win over the San Diego Chargers on Sunday, 19-16.

The Ravens lead the teams just outside the playoff picture, winning a tiebreaker over the Titans and Broncos because of a better record in conference games.

Tennessee has the edge on Denver also due to its head-to-head win over the Broncos in Week 14.

There are still a variety of scenarios in which the Broncos can still make the playoffs, though Denver would likely need to win out to make a postseason berth possible.

After the game, Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak expressed that urgency to win from next week on out.

“I don’t know what the scenarios are. I know one thing: We need to win,” Kubiak said. “Losing this game hurts, and there is a lot of people crowded at the top. I can’t sit here and tell you what all the scenarios are, but if we don’t find a way to win 10 games, we’re not going to have an opportunity.”

In the locker room after the game, several players expressed the same sentiment as Kubiak, saying the team needed to battle in the next two weeks.

“I think we always fight, regardless. We’ve just got to keep fighting, keep fighting. That’s all we’ve got to do,” safety T.J. Ward said. “We’ve had these types of situations in the past. It’s the NFL. Anything can happen, but we’ve got to win first and take care of ourselves.”

Said wide receiver Demaryius Thomas on the final two games being must-wins: “We’ve been saying that four the past four weeks. It’s the same thing. Nothing change. We try to win every game we play. We’re going to go back to work and see what happens.”

Follow digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @JohnnyHart7.