The Broncos’ playoff chances are increased by Russell Wilson and Vic Fangio

The Denver Broncos enter their Week 13 game against the Cleveland Browns in an advantageous position: They are more than a game ahead of the final AFC Wild Card seed and are closer to the teams ahead of them in the standings than to the teams ahead of them behind them.

The AFC playoff picture now looks like this:

1) Kansas City (11-1)
2) Buffalo (10-2)
3) Pittsburgh (9-3)
4) Houston (8-5)
5) Los Angeles (8-4)
6) Baltimore (8-5)
7) Denver (7-5)

The next three teams to be eliminated are Indianapolis (6-7), Miami (5-7) and Cincinnati (4-8).

Behind the Broncos, the Dolphins lost convincingly in Green Bay on Thanksgiving to move to 5-7, while the Colts pulled off a miracle win over the weak Patriots in the final moments of the game to move to 6-7. The Colts’ win keeps them in the AFC playoff picture, while the Dolphins’ loss effectively eliminates them.

Just behind Miami are the 4-8 Bengals, who like Miami will need a miracle to reach January football. The Bengals lost in Week 13 to old friend Russell Wilson and the Pittsburgh Steelers, who are now 5-1 when Russ starts.

Over Denver, at the top of the conference, the Chiefs narrowly defeated the Raiders thanks to questionable officiating (have you ever heard of that?), and the Bills beat the 49ers in true Christmas fashion (while playing in a blizzard). The division-leading Steelers won their 18th straight season under coach Mike Tomlin and the Texans were able to get past Jacksonville with a solid win despite having one of the dirtiest hits in the NFL in recent years.

In the wild card picture, the Ravens played one of the most eye-catching games of the year against the Eagles, resulting in a well-deserved win for Philadelphia. Vic Fangio’s defense stifled the Baltimore Ravens’ dynamic offense. Once-dominant kicker Justin Tucker had a terrible game, and there’s an incredibly valid argument that his misses cost the Ravens any chance of winning.

The Chargers took their turn against the Atlanta Falcons and were able to pull out a narrow win thanks to a talented pick-six in Kirk Cousins. Cousins ​​hasn’t looked great, but this has been two games in a row where the Falcons’ offense has been a dud against an AFC West playoff team.

The Broncos enter their Monday Night Football battle against the Browns at 7-5 and have had some positive results in the playoff race. For all intents and purposes, the Wild Card race shrank to a four-team race, with the fourth team, the Colts, battling for a one-point victory over one of the NFL’s worst teams. A win on Monday night would move the Broncos back to a full two games lead in the playoffs and make them heavy favorites to break the second-longest active playoff drought in the NFL.