The Denver Broncos continued their late-season surge on Sunday with a dramatic 13-10 comeback win over the Chicago Bears in overtime. Denver rallied from a 10-point fourth quarter deficit and took advantage of some good fortune to win their sixth game in a row and improve to 8-5 overall. Coupled with a loss by the Oakland Raiders, the Broncos have claimed sole possession of first place in the AFC West and are very much in control of their playoff destiny with three regular season games to play.
Elsewhere in the AFC playoff picture, four teams improved to 10-3 with wins on Sunday: the New England Patriots, Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh Steelers and Houston Texans. If the playoffs started today, Denver would be the No. 4 seed behind division leaders New England, Baltimore and Houston. Pittsburgh (10-3) and the New York Jets (8-5) own the wildcard slots, while Oakland, Tennessee and Cincinnati are in the picture but need help down the stretch.
Over in the NFC, the Green Bay Packers, New Orleans Saints and San Francisco 49ers have clinched playoff spots; the Packers improved to 13-0 on Sunday while the Packers and Saints are 10-3.
Here are the current playoff seeds:
Seed | AFC | NFC |
1 | Houston Texans | Green Bay |
2 | Baltimore Ravens | San Francisco |
3 | New England Patriots | New Orleans |
4 | Denver Broncos | New York Giants |
5 | Pittsburgh Steelers | Atlanta Falcons |
6 | New York Jets | Detroit Lions |
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