The Denver Broncos have one more chance to clinch a Wild Card spot. The team had a chance to do so in Weeks 16 and 17, but found themselves on the losing end. They blew a first-half lead against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 16, and in the Week 17 loss, they lost an overtime thriller to the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Broncos still have a chance to clinch their spot. On Sunday, they will host the Kansas City Chiefs, who will mainly play their substitutes with the No. 1 seed long assured. A win can give the Broncos the No. 7 seed.
Before the game, the Chiefs had trouble getting to Denver.
Kansas City International Airport was closed “due to rapid ice accumulation,” leaving the Chiefs’ plane stranded, according to NBC Sports’ Tracy Wolfson. According to Wolfson, the Chiefs were supposed to arrive in Denver around 3 p.m.
To make matters even worse for the Chiefs, the de-icing machine at Kansas City International Airport was broken, according to FOX 4 Kansas City’s Harold R. Kuntz. That left some flights diverted to Omaha.
The good news is that as of this writing, the Chiefs’ plane was able to take off and is on its way to Denver. Still, it was quite an ordeal for the Chiefs to deal with this before their regular season finale.
According to Accuweather, Kansas City is facing heavy precipitation that could lead to 6 to 14 inches of snow accumulation and up to a tenth of an inch of ice accumulation. This will continue early Monday morning.
A less than ideal situation for the Chiefs, who will mainly play their replacements this week. They already have the No. 1 seed and home-court advantage throughout the playoffs. On paper, this should give the Broncos the edge to win the game and clinch the final playoff spot. But as we all know, anything can happen in the NFL.
If the Broncos lost to the Chiefs, they would need the Miami Dolphins and Cincinnati Bengals to lose or tie.
