AJ McCarron dealing with wrist injury suffered on Monday night’s final play

The Bad: The inability to counteract what the Broncos were doing in the second half. Denver’s defense held and the Broncos offense got the ball back at their 20 with 1:40 remaining.

For two quarters on Monday night, as they have for much of the season, the Bengals looked like a totally live contender, even with second-string quarterback AJ McCarron at the controls.

Keeping warm during the first half of the Broncos match against Cincinnati Bengals on Monday, Dec. 28, 2015, in Denver.

DENVER (AP) – One errant shotgun snap sent the fortunes of the Denver Broncos and Cincinnati Bengals in different directions.

DENVER, CO – DECEMBER 30: Quarterbacks Peyton Manning #18 Brock Osweiler #6 of the Denver Broncos emerge from the locker room for pre-game warm ups before a game against the Kansas City Chiefs at Sports Authority Field Field at Mile High on December 30, 2012 in Denver, Colorado.

“It was my fault”. “I looked up to see the coverage and the snap caught me by surprise”.

Unlike Patriots coach Bill Belichick a day earlier, Broncos coach Gary Kubiak chose to receive, and Denver drove 60 yards in 13 plays.

After the Broncos drove to the Cincinnati 19 on the opening possession of overtime, the Bengals defense forced the hosts to settle for a 37-yard field goal by Brandon McManus.

“I’m 24 years old and I don’t think I’ve ever kicked the ball like that in my life: grade school, elementary school or anything like that”, McManus said. Manning did have a 14 point comeback victory against the Chiefs this season, but I don’t know if he would have done what Brock did. The Broncos’ 20-17 overtime win over Cincinnati assured Denver a playoff spot, but it certainly wasn’t easy.

On Monday night, I watched the Broncos defeat the Bengals, and I felt kind of the same thing.

Now, the Broncos can earn the top seed in the AFC with a win over San Diego and a loss by New England at Miami next weekend. “When you get down to the playoffs you’re going to need all those type of wins”.

“It’s going to be a very quick turnaround after a five-quarter football game”. “A lot of those things don’t get called and they let it go”. If Seattle has won, then Minnesota would still play Seattle if they win the North, but Green Bay would host Minnesota again if they are the champ, and Seattle would go to Washington.

If McCarron can’t play Sunday, the Bengals will move to third-string quarterback Keith Wenning.

Forget Tom Brady for a moment, and here are the current starting quarterbacks among the AFC teams qualified for the playoffs as of now: Alex Smith, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Osweiler, McCarron and Brandon Weeden.

McCarron was making just his second start since Dalton injured his thumb trying to make a tackle.

“Coming into the game, I was a little bit banged up. So I’ll do whatever is best for the team come next week”.

It will be Osweiler’s seventh consecutive start.

BOGGED DOWN: After piling up 205 yards on their first three drives – including 170 on their first two possessions – the Bengals managed just 89 yards the rest of the way. Denver running back C.J. Anderson added a 39-yard touchdown run. “But we’ll leave that out there on the field”.

The Bad: Denver averaged 5.4 yards per carry and finished with 113 rushing yards to become the first team in eight games to break 100 against the Bengals.