The Denver Broncos are out to secure their first playoff bid since Super Bowl 50 on Saturday afternoon against the Cincinnati Bengals on NFL Network.
For Broncos right tackle Mike McGlinchey, who was part of several deep postseason runs during his five years in San Francisco, the key is to play loose and not make the objective into a Mile High mental mountain.
"I don't know if it's pressure or just excitement," McGlinchey said Thursday, via 9News. "When everything you set out for and all your goals are right in front of you, you tend to play a little bit tighter, you think a little bit harder about how you go about your process just because you want it so bad. You've been working for now eight, nine months, 10 months on getting to the playoffs. So I wouldn't say it's so much pressure as it is excitement to achieve the goal we set out to achieve.
"But you want to make sure you stay in the process. You don't want to make the game too big, too small. It's not the Catalina Wine Mixer. You just want to, day-by-day, control what you can control and execute to the best of your ability, and that's what we're going to try to do."
For the unawares, the Catalina Wine Mixer is the annual festival inspired by the 2008 comedy Step Brothers.
The Broncos missed a chance to clinch their first playoff berth in nine seasons with last week's second-half collapse versus the Los Angeles Chargers. Yet, Sean Payton's crew can still break the streak of futility with a win in Week 17 (at Cincinnati) or Week 18 (vs. Kansas City).
"I think you could feel it the last few home games. In my two years here, these last two home games have felt a little bit different. The energy feels different," McGlinchey said. "These people are believing in our team again. And we like the fact we've given them a reason to.
"We've got to make sure we back it up, right? We've got to deliver on the excitement and I know a [nine]-year drought is not something this organization is used to. The Denver Broncos are a premier organization in our league and we want to make sure we get it back there and remain there."
According to the Next Gen Stats model, the Broncos have a 76% chance to make the postseason. A loss Saturday in Cincy would drop those odds to 58%. Denver has a 5% chance to climb as high as the No. 5 seed with help. They have a 17% chance to earn the No. 6 seed and a 54% shot at the No. 7 seed, which would likely see them head to Buffalo for the Wild Card Round.
