For Broncos, home-field advantage has almost always meant a Super Bowl trip

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Few Broncos players have first-hand experience with the value of a bye week and home-field advantage in the playoffs.

Only a handful of them do, including the cluster of 49ers expats: inside linebacker Dre Greenlaw, safety Talanoa Hufanga and right tackle Mike McGlinchey.

Sure, there’s the risk of falling off-rhythm. But when you consider that 50 percent of teams receiving byes since the NFL’s postseason expansion to 14 teams in 2020 have reached Super Bowls, the value is obvious.

“It’s one less game to play, right?” safety Talanoa Hufanga said. “… You’ve got one less chance of losing. We need to take those odds, every day.”

One less click in the game of postseason Russian Roulette. That’s worth the roll of the dice on losing rhythm. And then there’s the convenience factor.

“One advantage is to not travel. That’s an enormous, enormous factor, to not have to get on a plane,” right tackle Mike McGlinchey said.

But in Broncos history, the bye has proven crucial — with the No. 1 seed even more valuable.

THE NUMBER THAT SHOWS WHY HOME-FIELD ADVANTAGE MATTERS SO MUCH FOR THE BRONCOS:

75

That’s the percentage of Broncos teams that went to the Super Bowl after earning the No. 1 seed in the AFC postseason.

Denver earned the top seed in 1977, 1987, 1989, 1996 1998, 2012, 2013 and 2015; only in 1996 and 2012 did the Broncos fail to win the AFC Championship Game, falling to the Baltimore Ravens in the divisional round that season.

In the Super Bowl era, just six teams have better home winning percentages in the postseason than the Broncos’ .773 rate.

So, what makes it different? It’s obvious.

“Here in Colorado, it’s a difficult place to come and play, especially when it starts getting cold. Now, we haven’t had any cold weather — except for last weekend, which we weren’t playing on, but as it gets colder here, and the altitude is here, it gets harder on away teams,” McGlinchey said.

And then there’s the noise.

“Our crowd has been one of the best in the world,” McGlinchey said. “The volume we’re operating with at Mile High Stadium is just absolutely out of control, and hopefully we can keep it that way as we move through the playoffs.”

Added Broncos coach Sean Payton: “The atmosphere will be fantastic.”

49

That is the previous high in degrees Fahrenheit for the coldest home-game kickoff temperature in a Broncos regular season, set in 1971.

That record is likely to be obliterated this season, as Sunday’s forecast high in the mid-60s means that the Week 10 game against the Las Vegas will represent the home game with the coolest kickoff temperature; the mercury registered at 60 degrees when the Broncos’ 10-7 win began.

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