What a finish! The Monday night game between the Broncos and the Bengals was a nail biter! Both teams needed this win for their own perspective reasons.
Coming into this game, the Denver Broncos were starting to look like they were going to be the first team since 1970 to start the season 10-2 and not make it into the playoffs.
Not making the playoffs would have been devastating to Broncos fans everywhere because not getting into the playoffs would just top off the utterly bad things that have happened this season.
Looking back to losing both Demarcus Ware and Peyton Manning to injury, that really put a hole in the offence and the defense for the Broncos.
Thankfully though, the Denver Broncos had Brock Osweiler and Shaquil Barrett to step into important roles, and both played very well. They both carried their weight when thrown into the starting roles, and their personal success has also made a big impact for the team.
When looking at the Cincinnati Bengals, they also started out the season hot, but have had some bad luck with injuries along the way as well.
When it comes to injury’s, the Bengals had to play without their starting tight end and their starting quarterback. Andy Dalton went down with a right thumb injury and Tyler Eifert had to sit out because of a concussion.
During the Monday Night Football game, both teams needed the win to help their teams. A win for the Bengals would have meant that they would have taken the No. 1 seed from the patriots and got home field advantage through the playoffs.
For the Denver Broncos, it meant that they would win the AFC West and surpass the Bengals in the rankings to have a first round bye.
When the game started, no one really knew what was going to happen because it was a game of two really good defenses going up against two pretty solid backup quarterbacks.
When the game got under way, A.J. McCarron took the Bengal’s down the field for two scores to put them ahead 14-0. It looked like there was no stopping them.
By the second quarter, the Denver defense finally showed up and shut them out the rest of the half. Before the half, Denver’s kicker, Brandon McManus, kicked a field goal to make the score 14-3.
After half time, the game looked to be in the Bengals favor because they definitely had all of the momentum when they went in the locker room for half.
Even though the Bengals had the momentum, when Denver came out of the locker room, they looked like a different team. Early in the third quarter, Brock drove down the field on the Bengals and threw a short touchdown pass to Emmanuel Sanders.
This cut the deficit to 14-10. As the game went on, both defenses started to really toughen up because neither team could get down to score.
This all changed when the Bengals had a chance for a field goal, but their kicker missed it. In this Monday Night Football game, neither the Broncos or the Bengals could get their running games going.
C.J Anderson broke open the running game a little when he ran for a 33-yard touchdown. With this touchdown, the Broncos were leading the game for the first time. But as the game was starting to wind down, the Bengals drove down the field and tied up the score with a field goal.
With a little over two minutes to go in regulation, Brock and the Broncos needed to score again. Brock successfully took his offense down the field and in Bengals territory so that Brandon McManus could attempt a 45-yard field goal.
Unfortunately, McManus could not convert and shanked the ball wide left and the game went into overtime. Denver won the toss and elected to receive. Coach Kubiak elected to receive because he didn’t want the outcome to mirror what happened to the patriots.
Denver drove down the field and McManus kicked a field goal to put the Broncos ahead. Bronco fans all held their breath as the Bengals were given a chance to score. As the Bengals were driving, A.J. McCarron fumbled the ball and Demarcus Ware recovered it for Denver to finish off the Bengals.
The AFC Wes Championsip belongs to the Denver Broncos.
Good Luck in the playoffs, Denver!!
[Image via: AP images]