Frazier, Black Lead Illinois Over Indiana, 73-71

Troy Renck: When you retire, you move to Florida. When you get brushed up against by a defender in soccer, you flop. When you do your job well one day a year, you call yourself Santa. It’s the law. So, too, it seems, is making New Year’s resolutions. Most involve dropping weight, working out, things that inspire us to dream big and quit in two weeks.

While union ski patrollers walk a picket line at Utah’s Park City Mountain Resort, on strike for better pay and working conditions, officials at Arapahoe Basin are awaiting the results of an upcoming election that could result in the formation of a patrollers union there. More than 70% of A-Basin’s patrollers signed a petition supporting organizing efforts last month; it has since been filed with the National Labor Relations Board.

The Broncos will put their playoff aspirations on the line Sunday afternoon. Denver’s Week 18 home game against Kansas City is set for a 2:25 p.m. kickoff. The league finalized the schedule for the final week of the regular season on Sunday night. Sean Payton’s team must win its season finale against the Chiefs to ensure a playoff spot after losing its past two games at the Los Angeles Chargers and Cincinnati.

The Denver Broncos have twice had an opportunity to end their eight-year playoff drought. And twice they’ve come away losers. Now, with just one week left in the regular season, they will get one more shot to punch their ticket to the postseason with the Kansas City Chiefs coming to town. While that might normally be cause for concern, it appears highly likely that Chiefs head coach Andy Reid will sit his starters after the team clinched the No.

SAN ANTONIO — Can Coach Prime afford to stand pat on Pat Shurmur? Deion Sanders turned up in Boulder two Decembers ago with an NFL-ready pocket passer ready to take the wheel. He won’t have that in 2025. Kaidon Salters isn’t Shedeur Sanders. Julian Lewis won’t be as a true freshman. As an NFL lifer, offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur smoothed over some of what few rough edges Shedeur had left in his game.

CINCINNATI — Sean Payton was in the midst of discussing the Broncos’ 30-24 overtime loss to Cincinnati on Saturday night when he made and immediately reiterated a point, almost in passing. “No. 5 is a good player,” Payton said, referring to Bengals receiver Tee Higgins. “A real good player.” Higgins didn’t catch his first pass until a third-down conversion in the second quarter, but from then on he worked over cornerback Riley Moss and the rest of Denver’s secondary all the way through his 31-yard toe-tap and walk-off overtime touchdown on back-to-back plays. Higgins authored the first three-touchdown game of his career and, in the process, helped keep Cincinnati’s season alive. Whenever the Bengals’ season ends — the Broncos can ensure it’s a week from now if they beat Kansas City and clinch the final AFC playoff spot — Higgins is in for a massive payday.