The Denver Broncos are continuing to pursue their season objectives after securing a 34-26 victory over the Green Bay Packers, which clinched them a spot in the playoffs. Despite this achievement, Head Coach Sean Payton emphasized that the team’s goals extend beyond simply making the postseason.
“Goal one is try to go win your division,” Payton said Sunday. “Goal two is try to get the best seed, and then goal three is try to win a world championship. So, we still haven’t really accomplished one, two or three. So, remember, one is win the division. We’re still going.”
Payton reinforced this perspective on Monday, stating that preparations remain focused on their next opponent rather than playoff scenarios. “We’re not preparing for the playoffs right now,” Payton said Monday. ” … We’re focused on Jacksonville. Goal one is not [to] make the playoffs.”
The Broncos have maintained a consistent approach throughout their current 11-game winning streak by concentrating on immediate tasks. Defensive end Zach Allen commented on this mentality: “I think the whole team’s really process-driven,” Allen said Monday. “For us, we’ve kind of all year been kind of handling it like that, where it’s just try to go 1-0 that week. Jacksonville, everybody knows how explosive they’ve been. No one’s looking past that at all. A lot of respect for what they’re doing there.”
A win against the 10-4 Jacksonville Jaguars—who currently hold the third seed in the AFC—would move Denver closer to achieving its top goals of winning the division and securing favorable playoff seeding. If Denver wins at home next Sunday and other results around the league fall into place—including losses by New England and Buffalo—the Broncos could clinch both their division and potentially secure a first-round bye as early as Week 16.
However, with two victories in their remaining three games, Denver would guarantee themselves the top seed in the AFC without relying on outcomes from other teams.
Safety Talanoa Hufanga highlighted that maintaining focus each week remains crucial: “I can’t tell you what the future holds, it’s just one week at a time,” Hufanga said Sunday. “So, next week we’ve got a good team in Jacksonville, and we’ve got to go out there and prove it again.”
Outside linebacker Jonathon Cooper also pointed out that reaching the playoffs has not satisfied everyone within the locker room: “I don’t feel like everybody’s satisfied with that — just that,” Cooper said Sunday of making the postseason. “We’ve still got things we’ve got to clean up. We still want to play our best ball when we get to the playoffs. So, it’s important for us to go back in the film, see what we can get better at. Coach [Payton] says all the time, the things that we don’t tolerate in a loss, we can’t tolerate in a win.
“So, we have to make sure we look at the film, get better, keep climbing, keep stacking these wins.”
