THE DENVER FOOTBALL TEAM: WEEK 12

So far this season, we’ve already seen the two faces of Denver football. Well, a face and an ass really.

Through September and October, the Broncos were the undefeated surprise of the NFL, a perfect 6-0. Then in November, those all-too-familiar Donkeys returned from their bye week in the form of another four-game collapse, culminating in a 32-3 drubbing at home, at the hands of the San Diego Chargers.

The month of November was spared an 0-for on Thanksgiving night, when the Donkeys…err…Broncos (for now, let’s just play it safe and go with “Denver football team”) mustered a dominant, well-rounded 26-6 win over the also-struggling New York Giants.

So as we enter December, the questions linger: Who are these 2009-10 Broncos? And more importantly, can they play into January?

This Sunday should provide some indication. The Denver football team will make their annual visit to Arrowhead Stadium to play the Kansas City football team, the 3-8 Chiefs.

Who’s gonna show up for the blue and orange?

The Donkeys would find a way to blow it, cite the franchise’s 1-17 record in games in Kansas City in December.

The Broncos would take advantage of the fact that they’re facing a bad team that recently cut their almost all-time leading rusher in Larry Johnson, and pick up a crucial win with a mostly-easy remaining schedule.

The Broncos are 7-4. They’re a game behind the Chargers (who just demolished those same Chiefs 43-13 this week) for the division, and atop the wild card race, a game ahead of Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Jacksonville (all 6-5).

Looking forward, the Broncos face the Chiefs at Kansas City, the Colts at Indianapolis, the Raiders in Denver, the Eagles at Philadelphia, and then close out the season against the Chiefs again in Denver.

If the Broncos take care of the games they should win (two against the Chiefs and home against the Raiders), they’ll finish 10-6 at worst. If they play to their full potential, I’d even venture that they have a shot against either the Colts (less likely) or Eagles (more likely) and finish 11-5.

Either way, they should be in the playoffs, but drop just one of those gimmies, and we could have another Donkeys’ collapse on our hands.

The Steelers still play Cleveland and Oakland, both of which should be easy wins, followed by the Packers, Ravens and Dolphins. The Ravens play the Packers, Lions, Bears, Steelers and Raiders.

One of those obviously has to beat the other in their Week 16 match up, and both could feasibly win out. So, with the AFC North likely locked up by the Bengals, one or both of the wild card spots could come out of that division with records of 11-5 and/or 10-6.

And, keep in mind that both of those teams own the tiebreaker over the Broncos by virtue of their head-to-head records (Donkeys 0-2).

Jacksonville is the other wild-card threat out of the AFC. They have three consecutive home games against the Texans, Dolphins and Colts, followed by away games at New England and Cleveland. I don’t think the Jaguars will put it together against the Colts or Patriots, but both of those teams will have likely locked up a playoff spot by the time the Jags face them, so who knows. My guess is that they win three of their remaining five, which would put them at 9-7 and likely out of the playoff picture.

So what does all this mean for the Denver football team…

They control their own destiny, and their success or failure will depend on whether the Broncos or Donkeys show up in December.

But, if everything goes right for the Steelers and Ravens (aside from the game they play against each other) the Broncos will have to go at least 4-1 in December, meaning they will need to beat either the undefeated Colts or the 7-4 Eagles on the road.

Now, this is all assuming that the Chargers maintain their one-game lead for the division. But given their mixed schedule the rest of the way, and their strong play in December in recent years, let’s give them the division for now. I know that hurts. I hate the Chargers so much, and I hate Phillip Rivers. After that Week 11 drubbing I started thinking about my Charger-and-Rivers-bashing column, but got too depressed and couldn’t do it.

But how sweet would this be for revenge? How ‘bout the Broncos win a wild card spot, visit San Diego in January and knock the Bolts out of the playoffs. The teams have never met in the playoffs, and with the rivalry swinging San Diego’s way the last few years (refer to the last five paragraphs), I can’t imagine a more perfect way for the Broncos to reclaim AFC West dominance.

But for now, it’s all fantasy, and to get there the Broncos must first saddle up in December.