Broncos insist they don't care who sits out for Chiefs as Denver seeks to end a long playoff drought

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — The Denver Broncos aren't necessarily breathing any easier knowing they won't have to face Patrick Mahomes and several other Kansas City Chiefs starters on Sunday with a playoff berth on the line.

Chiefs coach Andy Reid announced his decision to rest Mahomes on Wednesday, but declined to say who else might spend the day with the three-time Super Bowl MVP on the sideline in Denver with Kansas City having already secured the AFC's top seed.

There's a good chance, though, that superstar defensive tackle Chris Jones (strained calf) will sit this one out. And the same could go for running back Isiah Pacheco (bruised ribs), right tackle Jawaan Taylor (sore knee) and veteran tight end Travis Kelce, who similarly skipped last year’s Week 18 game, among others.

“We have to play the game to win, that's all that matters,” Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton said. “We don't care about none of the other stuff. Whoever has on shoulder pads and is wearing red, white and yellow, we have to beat them boys.

“We don't care who shows up and plays,” Sutton continued. “We don't care who sits. We don't care who doesn't play, who does play. We don't care about any of that. The Denver Broncos have to show up Sunday and win the game.”

If they do, the Broncos (9-7) will clinch a playoff berth for the first time since winning Super Bowl 50 in Peyton Manning's final game on Feb. 7. 2016.

The franchise has churned through half a dozen coaches and more than a dozen starting quarterbacks since hoisting the team's third Lombardi Trophy nearly nine years ago.

The Chiefs (15-1) won three games in an 11-day stretch culminating with a 29-10 win at Pittsburgh on Christmas Day that secured the conference's first-round bye as they seek a three-peat as Super Bowl champions. Reid is using the finale as a chance to rest some of his starters, who will have more than a three-week break by the time they return to the field for an AFC divisional-round game on either Jan. 18 or 19.

“You know, a credit to Kansas City, Andy and his team,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said. “When you go 15-1, then you're afforded those decisions and I've been in that position where your team might need a break here or there. They've earned that and that's part of the deal. For us, it's about understanding what we're seeing scheme-wise and being ready to play our best game.”

The Broncos blew chances to wrap up a playoff berth with road losses to the Los Angeles Chargers and Cincinnati Bengals the last two weeks. But they're embracing the moment as they control their own destiny with a win-and-in game at home Sunday.

“You could say that it would have been nice to be able to go into this game and have your position locked in,” Sutton said, “but in terms of a storybook thing that you couldn't really write up any better, I think this is the best opportunity that we could have to go in and solidify why we deserve to be in the dance.”

The Broncos could back into the playoffs even if they lose to the Chiefs or tie them Sunday if Cincinnati loses to Pittsburgh on Saturday and the Miami Dolphins lose to the New York Jets on Sunday.

They're not relying on anybody else punching their playoff ticket, though.

“We gotta win the game, simple,” Sutton said. “There's nothing that goes into it. We gotta win the game. People say it's never black and white — it's black and white. We gotta win the game. And that's as simple as it gets.”

The Broncos snapped a 16-game losing streak to the Chiefs with a 24-9 win in Denver last season, and they were on the verge of beating Kansas City in Week 10 at Arrowhead Stadium when the Chiefs blocked a 33-yard field goal as time expired to preserve a 16-14 victory.

In the aftermath of that heartbreaker, the Broncos flipped Alex Forsyth and Matt Peart on the left side of their field goal protection unit. Kicker Wil Lutz has gone 12 of 12 on field goals and 22 of 22 on extra points since then.

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Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix (10) threw in front of Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson (91) during the first half of an NFL football game in Cincinnati, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)

Denver Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton (14) makes a catch for a touchdown against the Cincinnati Bengals during the second half of an NFL football game in Cincinnati, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)

PLAINS, Ga. (AP) — Jimmy Carter 's long public goodbye began Saturday in south Georgia where the 39th U.S. president's life began more than 100 years ago.

A motorcade with Carter's flag-draped casket began at the Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus, where former Secret Service agents who protected the former president served as pallbearers and walked along side the hearse as it left the campus.

The Carter family, including the former president's four children and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren, are accompanying their patriarch in a procession that will take his remains through his beloved hometown of Plains and past his boyhood home on its way to Atlanta.

Carter died at his home in Plains on Dec. 29 at the age of 100.

Families lined the procession route in downtown Plains, near the historic train depot where Carter headquartered his presidential campaign. Some carried bouquets of flowers or wore commemorative pins bearing Carter’s photo.

“We want to pay our respects,” said 12-year-old Will Porter Shelbrock, who was born more than three decades after Carter left the White House in 1981. “He was ahead of his time on what he tried to do and tried to accomplish.”

It was Shelbrock’s idea to make the trip to Plains from Gainesville, Fla., with his grandmother, Susan Cone, 66, so they could witness the start of Carter's final journey. Shelbrock said he admires Carter for his humanitarian work building houses and waging peace, and for installing solar panels on the White House.

Carter and his late wife Rosalynn, who died in November 2023, were born in Plains and lived most of their lives in and around the town, with the exceptions of Jimmy's Navy career and his terms as Georgia governor and president.

The procession will stop in front of Carter's boyhood home on his family farm just outside of Plains. The National Park Service will ring the old farm bell 39 times to honor his place as the 39th president. Carter's remains then will proceed to Atlanta for a moment of silence in front of the Georgia Capitol and a ceremony at the Carter Presidential Center.

There, he will lie in repose until Tuesday morning, when he will be transported to Washington to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol. His state funeral is Thursday at 10 a.m. at Washington National Cathedral, followed by a return to Plains for an invitation-only funeral at Maranatha Baptist Church.

He will be buried near his home, next to Rosalynn Carter.

Bill Barrow, based in Atlanta, has covered national politics including multiple presidential campaigns for the AP since 2012.

FILE - Former President Jimmy Carter welcomes visitors to Maranatha Baptist Church before teaching Sunday school in Plains, Ga., June 8, 2014. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)

FILE - People wait in line outside Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga., to get into a Sunday school class taught by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter on Aug. 23, 2015. It was Carter's first lesson since announcing plans for intravenous drug doses and radiation to treat melanoma found in his brain after surgery to remove a tumor from his liver. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)

People line the street in Plains, Ga., before the hearse carrying the casket of former President Jimmy Carter passes through the town Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. Carter died Dec. 29 at the age of 100. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)

FILE - Former President Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday school class at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown, Aug. 23, 2015, in Plains, Ga. The 90-year-old Carter gave one lesson to about 300 people filling the small Baptist church that he and his wife, Rosalynn, attend. It was Carter's first lesson since detailing the intravenous drug doses and radiation treatment planned to treat melanoma found in his brain after surgery to remove a tumor from his liver. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)