Brandon McManus shanks playoff-clinching field goal during Broncos’ eventual

It was a shock to the team and all 76,868 in attendance but it didn’t sway either’s resolve.

But the big thing is they weren’t caught off guard or ill prepared.

In overtime, Brock Osweiler again led his team down the field and set up Brandon McManus to redeem himself (sort of), making a chip-shot to give the Broncos the lead. “We forced them to try to throw the ball outside, and we had to shut down the run”, Harris said.

McManus did win the game, though, so he was able to talk openly about just what the hell went wrong on that nightmare kick.

That would then lead to another trip to Denver in the Divisional Round to face the No. 2 seed Broncos. The Bengals are hoping to get him back for the playoffs, but the likely first-round game complicates it. However, the play was ruled as an incomplete pass, and the call stood after replay. But it didn’t matter as McCarron promptly mishandled a shotgun-formation snap and the Broncos recovered the fumble to end the game. The Broncos defense had played six entire games without allowing more than 16 first downs.

The win was ugly and nearly entirely in doubt Monday night.

McCarron completed passes of 20 and 13 yards on third down on Cincinnati’s subsequent drive, which ended with Mike Nugent’s 52-yard field goal that tied it with 6:45 remaining. They need one Broncos loss and one Chiefs win. The defense simply was not ready to let another win slip away. Sixteen degrees. Only two home games in club history have been colder.

The point is the Broncos won this game as a team.

Osweiler drove the Broncos 46 yards in 14 plays for the game-winning field goal. The Broncos entered the break with little to fuel their confidence.

Green didn’t have a catch in the second half after getting five for 57 in the first half with a touchdown. “Credit to them, they came out and played a good second half”.

Bengals fans saw a 14-0 lead go to a 17-20 loss in overtime. “Both sides are pushing. You hate to lose a football game where you have a chance to keep it going and can’t get it done”. A holding penalty on Andrew Whitworth killed the Bengals’ first drive of the second half. Despite the Broncos rough start and Green’s 57 first half receiving yards and touchdown, they stayed in man-coverage.

Denver has four Pro Bowlers on defense – cornerbacks Chris Harris and Aqib Talib and outside linebackers Von Miller and Ware – but all four were non-factors in the first half. They had to adjust their game plans on the fly. He was the team’s second-leading tackler with seven stops before exiting.

A return to the lineup by Manning had seemed possible if the Broncos had lost Monday and if Osweiler had given a shaky performance.

Overall, McCarron completed 22 of 35 passes for 200 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions.

Osweiler threw for 299 yards and a touchdown in a 27-for-39 passing performance. He joins Demaryius Thomas in the 1,000-yard club for the second consecutive year.

There was a similar scenario on Monday Night Football. The win placed the Broncos in the playoffs and got the team back on track after two demoralizing losses due to epically bad finishes.

Doctor backs Manning: The founder of an Indianapolis medical facility said Monday that a former unpaid student intern who claimed Peyton Manning used a banned substance in 2011 didn’t even work at the clinic until two years later, long after the National Football League star was undergoing treatment.