Strongside/weakside: Jerry Jones

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.

Casey Mittelstadt lives and breathes hockey, maybe even more than the typical NHL player. It’s part of what helped him become one of the best prospects in his draft class, what helped him figure it out at this level after a slower-than-anticipated start, and why he has connected so well with Nathan MacKinnon since arriving in Denver before the trade deadline last season. It’s also a big part of why he believes a recent funk will be in the rearview mirror soon. “I haven’t really had something like this since I was really young,” Mittelstadt said.

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.

Reporters have pregame routines, too. When I arrive at an NBA arena outside of Denver, mine includes familiarizing myself with the most optimal route from press row to the visiting coach’s interview room. It’s not always as simple as descending the steps of the lower seating bowl and going through a court-side tunnel.