The Denver Broncos were happy to hear this.

The Denver Broncos just caught a break. FOX Sports‘ Peter Schrager is reporting that Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes won’t play next week vs. the Broncos in the season finale.

Carson Wentz is expected to start for the Chiefs next week. How will that potentially impact the teams making a final playoff push? @PSchrags explains: pic.twitter.com/st01IXVyOa
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) December 29, 2024

The news comes as a confirmation of sorts, as the expectation has been that Mahomes wouldn’t play after the Chiefs secured the No. 1 seed and, thus, home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoff tournament. But we still don’t know how many other starters and key players Andy Reid will rest.

That means the Broncos can start preparing to face Carson Wentz in a Reid-led offense. But before Broncos Country starts resting on its laurels, cast your mind’s eye back on the 2019 season.

It was Week 7 and Vic Fangio’s Broncos were struggling in the second quarter of the season. The football gods seemed to smile upon the Broncos, as Mahomes exited the game early with a scary injury.

Matt Moore entered the game and proceeded to decimate the Broncos as the Chiefs emerged victorious at Mile High, 30-6. A different time and place, and two wildly different teams.

But it’s a cautionary tale for a Broncos team that is now desperate to win its last game of the season. That desperation plays into the Chiefs’ hands as spoilers and winners of 18 of their last 19 matchups with the Broncos.

Whether it’s Wentz and the Chiefs’ entire second-team roster, it’s still a talented quarterback coached by a future Hall-of-Famer and one of the best head coaches in NFL history. And Kansas City would love nothing more than to spoil Denver’s playoff hopes with its backup squad.

Sean Payton and company can leave nothing up to chance. He’s got to design a brilliant game plan, unlike the past two weeks, and the Broncos have to execute.

At the end of the day, if the Broncos are deserving of making the playoffs, they’ll beat the Chiefs, regardless of who’s lining up in red and gold. And as a silver lining, the Chiefs may have won 18 of the last 19, but if not for tormenting twist of fate that featured a mind-boggling, low-probability collapse of a field goal unit, the Broncos would be riding a two-game winning streak over their ancient AFC West rival entering a season finale with all the marbles on the table.

As info emerges on any other starters the Chiefs plan on resting, we’ll be sure to report them. Stay tuned.

Week 18’s Chiefs-Broncos game will be played on Sunday afternoon

The NFL released its Week 18 schedule late on Sunday night. We now know that the (15-1) Kansas City Chiefs’ final regular season game of the 2024 season will be played against the (9-7) Denver Broncos at Empower Field. The game will be carried on CBS — locally on KCTV/5 — with kickoff set for 3:25 p.m. Arrowhead Time.

Kansas City will have nothing riding on its game in Denver. The team has already clinched the AFC’s No. 1 seed, giving it a first-round bye and homefield advantage throughout the playoffs. The Broncos, though, can clinch the AFC’s last playoff berth with a win.

But if the Chiefs win, three additional scenarios will open.

If the Bengals defeat the Steelers on Saturday (and the Jets beat the Dolphins during Sunday’s late games), Cincinnati will make the playoffs.
Should the Dolphins beat the Jets, Miami will sneak in.
If the Bengals and Dolphins both lose, Denver will still get the last playoff berth.

Here’s the complete Week 18 schedule.