For the Denver Broncos, Sunday’s potentially high-leverage game remaining changed.

Now, their most important game in December in terms of a postseason bid could be the Dec. 15 game against the Indianapolis Colts.

That changed based on the results of Sunday’s early afternoon games.

The Broncos got the result they wanted in Cincinnati as the Bengals’ porous defense continued to falter, giving up over 500 total yards of offense and 414 yards to Russell Wilson on 29 of 38 passes, resulting in a 44-38 rout. loss that wiped out the Bengals to 4-8.

But in New England, the Indianapolis Colts kept pace and put together a convincing late-game performance that included three fourth-down conversions and led to a 25-24 victory over the Patriots.

Embattled sophomore quarterback Anthony Richardson completed two fourth-down passes – including the 3-yard touchdown to Pierce – and gained 6 yards on a fourth-and-2 on the series. Indianapolis is now 6-7.

The Colts, like the Broncos, have a bye next week before meeting on December 15th. Cincinnati has three games against teams under .500 before hosting the Broncos on Dec. 28 or 29, but they are now three full games behind Denver.

These results follow Miami’s 30-17 loss at Green Bay on Thanksgiving, which dropped the Dolphins to 5-7.

According to the playoff simulator published by The New York TimesSunday’s combination of results increased the Broncos’ postseason chances to 71 percent. At the beginning of the day they were at 70 percent.

Another result that didn’t sit well with the Broncos in the early afternoon games involved the Los Angeles Chargers, who are now a full game ahead of the Broncos at 8-4 after defeating the reeling Atlanta Falcons 17-13.

Los Angeles feasted on Falcon errors, intercepting Kirk Cousins ​​four times and dodging a bullet when Atlanta’s kicker missed a 35-yard field goal attempt. That proved crucial in the final moments as Atlanta pushed into Los Angeles territory needing a touchdown that forced them to try on fourth-and-12 at the Chargers’ 35-yard line with 47 seconds left .

This game has no bearing on the Broncos being in the postseason, but it could impact the Orange’s ranking and the Blue can get the job done and end their eight-season playoff drought.

Of course, Denver controls its own outcome for the rest of the season; If it wins its remaining games, the playoff streak will end.

But over the last four days, they’ve given the Bengals and Dolphins some margin for error… but not the Colts.