After the Denver Broncos made the drastic decision to start second-year quarterback Tim Tebow over veteran gunslinger Kyle Orton earlier in the season, the struggling NFL franchise were able to completely turn things around and become a force to be reckoned with in the AFC Conference. Even though the Broncos were winning football in an ugly fashion, the fact of the matter was that they were winning and finally starting to become the football team that John Elway had envisioned.

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The NFL legend and the greatest Broncos’ quarterback of all-time has had his criticisms about Tebow and many believe that he isn’t a fan of his new starting quarterback, but he couldn’t knock the guy for winning football games and inspiring the team the way he has. Even though Tebow was red-hot as the team’s starter for a while, the Tebow mania in the Mile High City has quickly started to wear off with the Denver Broncos losing three straight to end the regular season.

Tim Tebow leads the Broncos to the Playoffs

Despite the three straight losses to end the regular season, Tim Tebow has been able to lead the Denver Broncos to an AFC West division title and as a result a spot in the playoffs. Even though the team is really struggling to get back to their winning ways, the Broncos will have a chance to bounce back in the postseason and try and do the seemingly impossible by making a run at the Super Bowl.

In the AFC Wild-Card Round, the Denver Broncos will have arguably the toughest opponent of any other in the first round of the playoffs as they are set to face off against the defending AFC Conference champion Pittsburgh Steelers. Even though the Steelers will be without running back Rashard Mendenhall (out for season) who suffered a torn ACL last week and have a banged up quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (ankle), Pittsburgh is still considered to be one of the best teams in the NFL and will almost certainly give the Denver Broncos a tough challenge from start to finish on both sides of the football.

The one thing that everyone will be looking forward to in this AFC Wild-Card showdown is the Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense against Tim Tebow. The Steelers might not be as sharp as they were a few years ago or even last season when they went to the Super Bowl, but Troy Polamalu and company are still a force to be reckoned with and should frustrated Tim Tebow all day long.

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Another interesting matchup will be Elvis Dumervil and rookie Von Miller going after Ben Roethlisberger. With the Steelers no longer having a dominant running game without Rashard Mendenhall, Big Ben will have to almost everything on the offensive side of the football by airing it out in order to put points on the board.

This should be an intriguing matchup with the possibility of the Denver Broncos pulling off the upset over the defending AFC Conference champions, but in the end the Pittsburgh Steelers will most likely advance and make another run for a Super Bowl title.

Detroit Lions @ Oakland Raiders Sun. Dec. 18, 2011 4:05 p.m. EST

Over the last two years, the Oakland Raiders have slowly but surely started to move up the rankings in the AFC Conference with a bright future on the horizon. With talented young players on both sides of the football and veterans like quarterback Carson Palmer and defensive tackle Richard Seymour; the Raiders have become a force to be reckoned with once again and seem to get closer and closer to finally ending the playoff drought.

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This season the Oakland Raiders have arguably been the best all-around team in the AFC West division with a first place standing throughout the majority of the season. Last week that all changed when the undefeated Green Bay Packers dominated the Oakland Raiders (46-16) at Lambeau Field which dropped to the silver and black to a 7-6 record. With the Raiders losing and the Denver Broncos winning, Oakland fell to second place in the AFC West and might be in serious danger of missing the playoffs entirely.

Matthew Stafford - Detroit Lions

With that being said, the Oakland Raiders need to bounce back immediately in order to salvage the once promising season with only three regular season games remaining on the schedule. Fortunately, the Raiders will play the lowly division rivals in the Kansas City Chiefs (Week 16) and the San Diego Chargers (Week 17) in which they will probably be favored to win, but they must first face the up-and-coming Detroit Lions in Week 15.

Now that the Detroit Lions have become a legitimate force to be reckoned with in the NFC Conference, Matthew Stafford and company could be headed to a playoff appearance. Much like the Raiders, this would be the first playoff appearance by the Lions in a very long time, but Detroit’s chances of making the playoffs are much better than Oakland’s at this point.

Since they play in the same division (NFC North) as the defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers who remain undefeated heading into Week 15 (13-0), the Detroit Lions will have to settle for a playoff berth through the NFC Wild Card. Even though the Lions look like they could be on their way to making the playoffs for the first time in quite some time, Detroit will have to keep their foot on the gas pedal moving forward as they have to contend with the Oakland Raiders this week and both the San Diego Chargers and the undefeated Green Bay Packers in the last two weeks of the NFL regular season.

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Both the Detroit Lions and the Oakland Raiders are talented football teams on both sides of the ball with potentially bright futures down the road, but coming into this matchup I believe the Lions are the better team and should get the win.

As of right now, the Detroit Lions are favored to get the win over the Oakland Raiders with a -2 point spread.

Take the Lions at -2.

Last season the Kansas City Chiefs quickly transformed from a perennial bottom feeder in the AFC Conference to a division title winner after becoming the best running team in the league with the emergence of Pro Bowl running back Jamaal Charles. Coming into this NFL regular season, the Chiefs had relatively the same team intact and were ready to have a repeat performance of last season, but that hasn’t turned out to be the case in Kansas City with multiple season-ending injuries to their best players and just five wins on the year heading into Week 15.

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As a result of the disappointing 5-8 record in their AFC West division title defense, the Chiefs have officially fired head coach Todd Haley and given up on the hunt for a second straight playoff appearance. Even though the Chiefs were basically out of the running for the division title and a playoff spot, firing Haley for the ugly 5-8 record was a bad decision in my opinion as the Chiefs have had arguably the toughest time getting back to form this season with Matt Cassel, Eric Berry, Tony Moeaki and Jamaal Charles all out for the season.

Todd Haley - Kansas City Chiefs

Without his stars player on both sides of the football, Todd Haley has had the toughest job in the NFL in order to maintain this team’s momentum moving forward. Losing your best players on both sides of the football is something that is incredibly tough to bounce back from and the Chiefs just haven’t been able to recover.

Not only were the Kansas City Chiefs struggling without Cassel, Berry, Charles and Moeaki, but the competition in the AFC West just got better and better throughout the season. With Oakland Raiders starting to come on strong with veteran quarterback Carson Palmer under center and the Denver Broncos completely turning things around with Tim Tebow fever in the Mile High City, the Kansas City Chiefs were in for a tough challenge regardless of their injuries.

Now that the head coaching job is vacant in Kansas City, the buzz has begun around the NFL about what head coach could be coming in to get the Chiefs back to a playoff contender in the AFC Conference. There has been a lot of talk over the past few years about former Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Bill Cowher coming back to the NFL. Even though Cowher continues to deny these reports of interest to return to coaching the league, the popular head coach will almost certainly get a phone call about this job opening.

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Another popular NFL head coach that could get some consideration for this job is Jon Gruden. Despite being a successful NFL analyst and commentator on Monday Night Football, Gruden has been inching to get back on the sidelines and might listen to a proposal from the Kansas City Chiefs considering the promising young players and a potential high draft pick in the 2012 NFL draft.

No team in the NFL has been more impacted by the loss of one player in recent history than the Indianapolis Colts have with the absence of four-time NFL MVP quarterback Peyton Manning. With Manning still trying to recover from neck surgery, the Colts have been forced to use other quarterbacks like Kerry Collins, Curtis Painter and Dan Orlovsky.

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Unfortunately, not one of the quarterbacks that have been under center for the Colts this season have been able to get this offense firing on all cylinders like Manning has been able to do throughout his entire NFL career in Indianapolis. With that being said, the Colts have quickly transformed from perennial Super Bowl title contender to arguably the worst team in the NFL this season.

Peyton Manning

Now that there is absolutely no hope for a run at the playoffs, Colts owner Jim Irsay was asked about whether or not Peyton Manning would get back in the lineup before the end of the NFL regular season. This is an interesting question considering all the chatter going on about the upcoming 2012 NFL draft in which the Colts will almost certainly have the number one pick. With talented college quarterbacks possibly in the draft like Matt Barkley (USC) and Andrew Luck (Stanford), Indianapolis has been forced to address the future without Peyton Manning as the face of the franchise.

Reportedly, Jim Irsay has said that Manning will most likely not play a down this season even if healthy so that he can be ready for next season. There is no question that taking a quarterback with the number one overall pick will be an option that the Colts need to seriously consider with there being no guarantee that Peyton Manning will come back and be the same perennial Pro Bowl gunslinger he once was.

Personally, I believe the Indianapolis Colts will definitely draft a quarterback with the number pick in the 2012 NFL draft. It really doesn’t make any sense that they wouldn’t draft a quarterback even if it was for that rookie to play behind Peyton Manning and be mentored by one of the greatest NFL quarterbacks of all-time for the next three years or so.

Both Andrew Luck and Matt Barkley would be intriguing options for the Indianapolis Colts and too good to pass up on if given the opportunity. There has been a lot of talk about the Colts drafting Luck due to the comparisons to Manning, but there is no telling what this team will do when they are on the clock in the near future.

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As for the Peyton Manning, there is an option for him to be traded by the Indianapolis Colts and that might be explored by the team before or during the 2012 NFL draft. There are plenty of teams around the league that would definitely be interested in acquiring a quarterback like Peyton Manning.