The Broncos woke up the morning after one of the most excruciating regular-season losses most of them had experienced to a two-part reality.
Naturally, the sting of their 16-14 loss at Kansas City and the blocked field goal that sealed it wasn’t going to just disappear.
But also, if the postseason started today, Denver would be in as the No. 7 seed. Not only that, but Sean Payton’s team is coming into a stretch of the season where opportunity abounds.
After playing their last two on the road, the Broncos are home three of their next four games — and four of five weeks when their early-December bye gets factored in.
After playing their past two games as big underdogs at Baltimore and Kansas City, they’re favored by two against Atlanta on Sunday and could well be favored in each of the three games after that — at Las Vegas, Cleveland at home and then Indianapolis at home after the bye.
Those two road games tested Denver’s aptitude and, despite losing both games, Payton’s team showed at Arrowhead Stadium why it could be a tough out come January.
But they’ll only get to that point if they pass the upcoming test of their football fortitude, which begins against Atlanta.
For as stunned as the locker room was after Wil Lutz’s field goal got blocked and a win turned to a loss just like that, the glimpses reporters got of practice and the locker room during the work week showed no signs of creeping doubt or dispirit.
In fact, it showed the opposite. Players and coaches alike sounded motivated.
Payton started the week with a lowlight reel from his career coaching: A near-upset of Kansas State gone bad when he was at Indiana State. A botched field goal operation in 1997 when he was in Philadelphia. Justin Simmons’ blocked extra point and the missed pass interference penalty in the NFC Championship game from Payton’s time in New Orleans.
The point of all of it?
“Just like in life, we’re going to have some of these, and then we get up and we start fighting again,” Payton said. “There was just a message behind that. Every one of us here has that film in some way, shape or form, whether it’s personally, occupationally.”
Rookie quarterback Bo Nix relayed the rest of Payton’s message from that meeting: “If we went over the good ones we’d be here all day,” Nix said. “You can’t lose track of the good moments that have happened in the practices, in the offseason and in the season. There are so many more good moments that happen, and sometimes perspective.
“You have to look at those more than you look at the negative ones, even though they may hurt or linger for a while. You just kind of have to move past them and learn from them and ultimately put your mind on the good and try to get back to the good.”
Several times in the past couple of weeks, Payton has talked about this stretch — these losses and the opportunity ahead — as being the driving force for being diligent about the type of players Denver’s added to its program.
Of course, you want playmakers, explosive athletes and quick learners. But you also need players who meet this kind of moment head-on.
So now the Broncos are about to find out. They’ve got everything they want right in front of them, regardless of what’s still pretty large in the rearview mirror.
They could easily be 8-5 going into the bye week with a home game on the other side or they could falter Sunday against Atlanta and make the task even tougher on themselves.
This, then, is the biggest stretch of Payton’s tenure in Denver so far.
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If they’ve got this project right, they could push toward breaking through the first big barrier and ending the club’s eight-season playoff drought.
If not, it will be a golden opportunity gone to the wayside and another winter of searching ahead.
“We all know that this point in the schedule is very important for us,” All-Pro corner Pat Surtain II said this week. “I think it’s necessary for us to really lock in and hone in on our opponents and understand that this could be a make-or-break type of situation at this phase of the year.
“We’re all locked in and we all are enjoying that moment. Being in this league, you learn a lot from wins and losses, but we just move forward toward building that pedigree and towards making the playoffs. I think this team is definitely suited up for it, and we’re ready for whatever challenge comes with it.”
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