DENVER — The Colts entered Sunday's game chasing the Broncos for the No. 7 seed in the AFC.
It turns out, the Broncos are the team that's racing up the playoff ladder.
With a 31-13 win over the Colts — and a concurrent Chargers loss to the Buccaneers — Denver jumped up to the No. 6 seed in the wild-card race ahead of a Thursday night showdown in LA.
"This was the team that was right on our heels, but we're more so looking to catch teams and get up to the [No.] 5 and get the best seed possible," tight end Adam Trautman said after the Broncos' win. "Obviously, we've just got to turn our focus to the Chargers."
According to the New York Times' playoff simulator, the Broncos now hold a 48 percent chance of either earning the fifth or sixth seed in the AFC — and that number would skyrocket to more than 80 percent if Denver can knock off the Chargers on Thursday. With a win, the Broncos would also officially clinch their first playoff berth since winning Super Bowl 50.
"It's a great opportunity that's ahead of us," wide receiver Courtland Sutton said. "I haven't been able to even sniff it, and to be in a position to know that if we finish strong we can better our seeding in the playoffs is an amazing feeling. We've got a nice little stretch coming up. Some really good games coming up."
The Broncos follow their trip to LA with a road date with the Bengals before closing the regular season at home vs. Kansas City. And while a ninth win represents the team's first winning season since 2016, this Broncos team has much loftier goals.
"It feels good, but we're not here to break winning season records," tackle Mike McGlinchey said. "We're here to win playoff games and get to the dance. It's another step into doing that, which is really, really cool."
Head Coach Sean Payton echoed McGlinchey's sentiment, and he said the high standards that exist in Denver were part of what stood out about the job.
"The appeal to me was the tradition here, the years of sustained success here and the importance of this game here," Payton said. "You can only find a few cities you can say that about, and then you find the right ownership group. There were certain things that were really important. The football tradition and history here was very appealing to me. I have known Peyton [Manning] and John [Elway] forever, but it was somewhere where the fan base's expectations were high. You want to be in New York, Los Angeles or Las Vegas if you're in entertainment; you do not want to be in Rhode Island. If you are in this industry, you want to be somewhere where it is really important and the expectations are high."
Payton acknowledged it was "nice to get the ninth win," and he joked he would have "some cupcakes" for the media to celebrate the accomplishment.
For the Broncos, though, the ninth win is simply a stepping stone to where the team can go next.
"It's exactly what you want to do," McGlinchey said of being on the doorstep of a playoff berth. "It's exactly where we want to be."
