DENVER — The Denver Broncos have slogged through a gauntlet of playoff hopefuls, an arduous trek that has included the best the NFL has to offer this season, and they have now suddenly emerged from the other side with something still to play for.
The Broncos kept their tiny place among the AFC playoff hopefuls, with a 24-17 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers, and improve to 5-6 on the season. But it’s not so much the record at this point, but what might be if the Broncos can keep their wits about them.
Denver just finished a run of opponents nobody in the league has seen in over four decades. The Steelers were the third consecutive Broncos opponent who had won at least five games in a row before facing Denver — the Texans had won five in a row when they arrived in Denver, the Chargers had won six in a row and the Steelers arrived with a six-game win streak in tow.
Not since the 1976 expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers has anyone else had to go through that kind of schedule. And that doesn’t even include the Broncos’ two meetings against the 9-2 Kansas City Chiefs, who were 3-0 and 6-1 when the Broncos faced them, to go with the 10-1 Los Angeles Rams, who were 5-0 when the Broncos faced them earlier this season, or even the season opener against Seattle Seahawks, who also find themselves back in the playoff picture.
In short, as Denver cornerback Chris Harris Jr. said last week: “Nobody — nobody — has faced what we have this year. We haven’t always played the way we can, we know that, but nobody has had to line up against what we have this year, we’ve played the hottest teams in the league, all of them.”
And here they are at 5-6, not always much to look at, but they are a tested bunch that is suddenly staring at relevance. No, they’re not even .500 yet, but none of the Broncos’ next four opponents has a winning record at the moment and none of the next four opponents have faced what the Broncos have to get to this point.
Even Sunday the Broncos survived a 41-completion onslaught from Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, a fake-field goal for a touchdown by the Steelers to end the first half and a 97-yard Roethlisberger to JuJu Smith-Schuster connection right after halftime that might have more than wobbled a different kind of Broncos team. But these Broncos also got a 100-yard rushing game from rookie Phillip Lindsay on the day, blocked a field goal, forced a fumble — with a high-effort, never-surrender play from safety Will Parks — on Steelers tight end Xavier Grimble that turned what was going to be a touchdown into a touchback, and forced another fumble on the last play of the third quarter as the Steelers were positioning for at least a field goal.
And with 1:03 to play and the Steelers on the Broncos’ 2-yard line, nose tackle Shelby Harris, who became a dad earlier this week, intercepted a Roethlisberger pass to close the book on the fifth win.
So, much like their victory over the Los Angeles Chargers a week ago, the numbers will scream that the Broncos lost another one Sunday. Roethlisberger piled up 462 yards passing, the Steelers held the ball for what seemed like the better part of two days, and by the end of the third quarter, the Broncos’ offense had run just 36 plays.
Broncos coach Vance Joseph has made the customary appearances on the “hot seat” lists after the Broncos surrendered 323 yards rushing in a horrific loss to the New York Jets in October or when they dropped to 3-6 when Brandon McManus’ potential game-winner against the Texans drifted wide right just two games ago, before the Broncos beat seven-win teams in consecutive weeks.
But through it all the Broncos have simply played hard and done some of the heavy lifting a team needs to do to dig itself out of a tough spot or two. And now the Broncos have five games left to do something with all of that.
They aren’t always statistically handsome, but in their sometimes odd, weird season, when they’ve been their own worst enemy at times, they have put themselves in the one place many never expected them to be.
Back in the playoff conversation.