ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — It's no secret what's on the line for the Broncos.
With two more wins, Denver would be guaranteed its first AFC West division title since 2015 and the No. 1 seed in the AFC.
No matter what else occurs around the league, a pair of wins to end the season secures the first two of Denver's season-long goals. And the players in the Broncos' locker room are well aware of that reality.
"Every one of these players understands the significance of where we're at with two games left in the season," Head Coach Sean Payton said.
The Broncos' final stretch of the regular season begins with a trip to Kansas City to try to sweep the Chiefs for the first time since 2014 — and it's a critical game for Denver to secure as the team chases its end-of-year goals.
"Everything's at stake for us here," guard Quinn Meinerz said. "We've put ourselves in a really good position here to be playing extremely important and meaningful games here in December. It's extremely important to win these games, secure the [No.] 1 seed, [the] AFC West — these are the things that you start out thinking about at the beginning of training camp [in terms] of what are your aspirations for the season.
"Everything's right here in front of us. We've got to take it one play at a time, 'cause that's all you can really control here, is one play at a time. The rest of it will take care of itself."
Offensive Coordinator Joe Lombardi said while the team is always locked in due to its maturity, it's easy to get even more focused when the Broncos have "so much on the line" in Week 17.
"It's a privilege to be playing meaningful December football," Lombardi said. "I think they appreciate that."
The Broncos' opportunity to control their own destiny comes after Sunday's loss to the Jaguars, and quarterback Bo Nix said the defeat to Jacksonville has proved beneficial as Denver approaches "Thursday Night Football" in Kansas City.
"I think the loss did nothing but help us be even more motivated and understand that we're not where we want to be and we've got a lot more to go out there and do," Nix said. "Sometimes a loss, especially in this league, it gives you a good reality check and puts you back on course. Obviously, you want to win every single game and nobody wants to lose — especially with the opportunities we felt like we had Sunday. But they played a good game, and we got beat. I think we've just got to look in the mirror and fix things. We've got the team that we're going to be able to fix things faster because of a loss. [I'm] excited to see what we do in response to that."
As the Broncos head to face their division rival — and Nix aims to lead Denver to just its fourth victory at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium in December — they know there's only one thing that matters on Christmas Day.
"You've just got to keep winning," Nix said. "Whatever it takes to win the game. Doesn't really, at this point, matter what it looks like. All the cool, flashy stuff can have already happened. Now, it's just who's got more points."
