Broncos game day and time for Week 18 is set

The Broncos finally know exactly when they’ll kickoff against the Los Angeles Chargers next week: Sunday, Jan. 4 at 2:25 p.m. MST.

That was announced by the NFL just after the end of the San Francisco 49ers’ Sunday Night Football win over the Chicago Bears. The game will be broadcast on CBS.

Significantly, the New England Patriots will kick off against Miami at the same time as the Broncos. New England can earn the No. 1 seed with a win and a Broncos loss.

The Jacksonville Jaguars, the other team in contention for the top seed, will kick off against the Tennessee Titans at 11 a.m. MST. The Jaguars can earn the No. 1 seed with a win and defeats by the Broncos and Patriots.

Denver clinched its first AFC West title in a decade when the Chargers failed to complete their comeback from a 14-point deficit against the Houston Texans on Saturday, falling 20-16.

BRONCOS WILL FACE A CHARGERS TEAM WITH SOME SEEDING MOTIVATION

The Chargers head into Week 18 holding the No. 6 seed in the AFC playoffs thanks to Buffalo’s 13-12 loss to Philadelphia on Sunday. The Bills and Chargers are both 11-5 with 8-3 conference records, but Los Angeles wins the common-opponent tiebreaker between the clubs.

Should the Chargers defeat the Broncos, they would clinch at least the No. 6 seed. A Houston loss or tie combined with a Chargers win would give Los Angeles the No. 5 seed and send the Bolts to the AFC North winners for the wild-card round — a potentially-coveted spot given the weakness of that division’s winner, which will have the worst record of any team in the AFC postseason.

But the Chargers will likely know whether they can get the No. 5 seed by kickoff, as the NFL chose to have Texans-Colts go in the early window.

A Chargers win would likely drop the Broncos to the No. 3 seed, assuming the Patriots and Jaguars win their games as heavy favorites. That would then set up an immediate rematch at Empower Field at Mile High in the wild-card round.

The Broncos are still looking for their first win over the Chargers since Jim Harbaugh assumed the Bolts’ head-coaching reins in 2024.

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