DENVER (AP) — The Denver Broncos can erase nearly a decade of frustration and futility by beating a Kansas City Chiefs team that will be resting Patrick Mahomes and several other starters Sunday.
With the Chiefs (15-1) having secured the AFC's top seed and lone playoff bye, coach Andy Reid decided an extended break — up to 24 days — could go a long way toward helping Kansas City in its quest for an unparalleled three-peat as Super Bowl champs.
Reid is starting backup QB Carson Wentz, who's hoping to follow in Sam Darnold's footsteps and parlay a year as a backup into another opportunity to start somewhere in 2025.
“I want to play well and have success out there and ultimately, more than anything, get a win,” said Wentz, who has started 68 NFL games, mostly with the Eagles, where he went 11-2 in 2017 before a knee injury derailed his career.
“We know the circumstances, we know kind of where we're at and the reason I'm playing and not Pat,” Wentz said. “But I still go out there and expect to win.”
The Broncos (9-7) just want to get back to the postseason party, which they've missed out on every year since winning Super Bowl 50 following the 2015 season in Peyton Manning's final game.
That's the longest playoff drought for a team that won the Super Bowl. If they clinch Sunday — 3,255 days after Von Miller led them to a 24-10 win over Carolina on Feb. 7, 2016 — the Broncos' reward as the AFC's seventh and final seed would be a trip to Buffalo to face Miller in the first round of the playoffs.
Reid wouldn't reveal who else he plans to sit, although there's a good chance that superstar defensive tackle Chris Jones (strained calf) will be among them. 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.
It's not like the Broncos are breathing any easier knowing they'll face second-stringers and practice squad call-ups instead of Kansas City's star-studded lineup.
“We don't care who shows up and plays,” Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton said. “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.”
The Broncos blew chances to clinch a playoff berth with back-to-back road losses to the Chargers and Bengals the last two weeks when a win or a tie would have done it. But they're again embracing the moment as they control their own destiny with another win-and-in opportunity.
“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 have already ended one ignominious streak with their ninth win, which gave them their first winning season since 2016. A 10th win would make this season an unqualified success.
“Obviously it would mean a lot,” rookie quarterback Bo Nix said. “It would mean a lot to the organization, everyone who’s put time and effort into this organization to make it what it is. It’s a special place, special fans, special atmosphere. We have players who have worked really hard, and it would be really important to them.
"It’s a really important thing. It’s a really important opportunity. We just have to finish. We have to finish the task at hand. It’s right there in front of us. We just have to go take it.”
The Broncos stood toe-to-toe with the Chiefs for 59:59 in Week 10 at Arrowhead Stadium before Alex Forsyth was bulldozed by a wave of Kansas City defenders and allowed linebacker Leo Chenal to block Wil Lutz’s chip-shot field goal attempt as time expired, preserving Kansas City's 16-14 win.
In the aftermath of that gut-wrencher, the Broncos flipped Forsyth and Matt Peart on the left side of their field goal protection unit. Lutz has gone 12 of 12 on field goals and 22 of 22 on extra points since then.
Wentz has only started eight games over the past three seasons with the Commanders, Rams and Chiefs. His decision to sign with Kansas City was made in part with an eye on building his value and starting somewhere next season, like Darnold has done in Minnesota after holding a clipboard for a year in San Francisco.
“It’s obviously been different,” Wentz said, “but I’ve stayed locked in, stayed ready, prepared every week. I’ve taken some things from Pat, working with him, but every week I’m staying locked in and ready to go.”
AP Sports Writer Dave Skretta in Kansas City, Missouri, contributed to this report.
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Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton challenges a call during the second half of an NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals in Cincinnati, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid walks on the sidelines during the second half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Matt Freed)
Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix (10) throws before an NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals in Cincinnati, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Carson Wentz (11) passes in the pocket against the Cleveland Browns during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/David Richard)
ATLANTA (AP) — Six days of funeral observances for former President Jimmy Carter begin Saturday in Georgia, where he died on Dec. 29 at the age of 100.
The first events reflect Carter’s climb up the political ladder, from the tiny town of Plains, Georgia, to decades on the global stage as a humanitarian and advocate for democracy.
Here is what to know about the initial ceremonies and what happens next:
The proceedings, streamed on apnews.com and the Associated Press YouTube channel, began at 10:15 a.m. EST Saturday with the Carter family arriving at Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus.
Former Secret Service agents who protected Carter served as pallbearers, walking alongside the hearse as it exited the campus on its way to Plains.
James Earl Carter Jr. lived more than 80 of his 100 years in and around the town, which still has fewer than 700 people, not much more than when he was born on Oct. 1, 1924. Some other modern presidents — Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton — also grew up in small-town settings, but Carter stands out for returning and remaining in his birthplace for his long post-presidency.
The motorcade moved through downtown Plains, which spans just a few blocks, passing near the girlhood home of first lady Rosalynn Smith Carter, who died in November 2023 at the age of 96, and near where the couple operated the family peanut warehouses. The route also included the old train depot that served as Jimmy Carter's 1976 presidential campaign headquarters and the gas station once run by Carter's younger brother Billy.
The motorcade passed by the Methodist church where the Carters married in 1946, and the home where they lived and died. The former president will be buried there alongside Rosalynn.
The Carters built the one-story house, now surrounded by Secret Service fencing, before his first state Senate campaign in 1962 and lived out their lives there with the exception of four years in the Governor's Mansion and four more in the White House.
After going through Plains, the procession stopped in front of Carter's family farm and boyhood home in Archery, just outside the town, after passing the cemetery where the former president's parents, James Earl Carter Sr. and Lillian Carter, are buried.
The farm now is part of the Jimmy Carter National Historical Park. The National Park Service rang the old farm bell 39 times to honor the 39th president.
Carter was the first president born in a hospital. But the home had no electricity or running water when he was born, and he worked his father's land during the Great Depression. Still, the Carters had relative privilege and status. Earl employed Black tenant farming families. The elder Carter also owned a store in Plains and was a local civic and political leader. Lillian was a nurse and she delivered Rosalynn. The property still includes a tennis court Earl had built for the family.
It was Earl's death in 1953 that set Jimmy on course toward the Oval Office. The younger Carters had left Plains after he graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy. But Jimmy abandoned a promising career as a submarine officer and early participant in the Pentagon's nuclear program to take over the family's peanut business after his father's death. Within a decade, he was elected to the Georgia state Senate.
From Archery, the motorcade headed north to Atlanta. The military-run schedule called for stopping at 3 p.m. outside the Georgia Capitol, where Carter served as a state senator from 1963 to 1967 and governor from 1971 to 1975. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens were set to lead a moment of silence. While former governors are honored with state-run funerals, presidents — even if they served as governors — are memorialized with national rites run by the federal government.
The motorcade then is scheduled to arrive at the Carter Presidential Center at 3:45 p.m., with a private service at 4 p.m. The campus includes Carter’s presidential library and The Carter Center, established by the former president and first lady in 1982.
From 7 p.m. Saturday through 6 a.m. Monday, Carter will lie in repose for the public to pay respects around the clock.
The ceremony is expected to include some of The Carter Center's global staff of 3,000, whose work concentrating on international diplomacy and mediation, election monitoring and fighting disease in the developing world continues to set a standard for what former presidents can accomplish.
Jimmy Carter, who delivered its annual reports until 2019, won the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize in part for this post-presidential work. His grandson Jason Carter now chairs the board.
Carter's remains will travel next to Washington, where he will lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda until his funeral at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Washington National Cathedral. All the living presidents have been invited, and Joe Biden, a Carter ally, will deliver a eulogy.
The Carter family then will return to bury its patriarch in Plains after a private hometown funeral at 3:45 p.m. at Maranatha Baptist Church, where Carter, a devout evangelical, taught Sunday School for decades.
Carter will be buried afterward in a private graveside service, in a plot visible from the front porch of his home.
A man salutes as the hearse containing the casket of former President Jimmy Carter passes through Fort Valley, Ga., Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, en route to Atlanta. Carter died Dec. 29 at the age of 100. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
People watch as the hearse containing the flag-draped casket of former President Jimmy Carter departs the Jimmy Carter Boyhood Farm in Archery, Ga., Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. Carter died Dec. 29 at the age of 100. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
People watch as the hearse containing the casket of former President Jimmy Carter passes through Reynolds, Ga., Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, en route to Atlanta. Carter died Dec. 29 at the age of 100. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
Former and current U.S. Secret Service agents assigned to the Carter detail, walk with the hearse carrying flag-draped casket of former President Jimmy Carter, at Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus, Ga., Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. Carter died Dec. 29 at the age of 100. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
A police escort passes as the hearse carrying the flag-draped casket of former President Jimmy Carter approaches during a procession in downtown Plains, Ga., Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
A person holds signs as the hearse containing the casket of former President Jimmy Carter, pauses at the Jimmy Carter Boyhood Farm in Archery, Ga., Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. Carter died Dec. 29 at the age of 100. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
National Historical Park Superintendent Jill Stuckey and other NPS employees, based out of Sumter County, Ga., salute the hearse carrying former President Jimmy Carter as the motorcade stops in front of the Boyhood Farm, where Carter grew up, Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, in Plains, Ga. (Hyosub Shin/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool)
The hearse containing the casket of former President Jimmy Carter moves toward Plains, Ga., Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. Carter died Dec. 29 at the age of 100. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
People line the road before the hearse with the casket of former President Jimmy Carter departs Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus, Ga., Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. Carter died Dec. 29 at the age of 100. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
Former and current U.S. Secret Service agents assigned to the Carter detail, walk with the hearse carrying the flag-draped casket of former President Jimmy Carter, at Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus, Ga., Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. Carter died Dec. 29 at the age of 100. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
Former and current U.S. Secret Service agents assigned to the Carter detail, move the flag-draped casket of former President Jimmy Carter, at Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus, Ga., Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. Carter died Dec. 29 at the age of 100. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
Former and current U.S. Secret Service agents assigned to the Carter detail, walk with the hearse carrying flag-draped casket of former President Jimmy Carter, at Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus, Ga., Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. Carter died Dec. 29 at the age of 100. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
A memorial wreath of cotton bolls is seen at the entrance to the Jimmy Carter Boyhood Farm, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, in Archery, Ga. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
A woman looks at items left in tribute to former President Jimmy Carter at the entrance to the Jimmy Carter Presidential Center Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in Atlanta. Carter died Sunday at he age of 100. (AP Photo/John Bazemore )
A jar of peanuts is among the items left in tribute to former President Jimmy Carter at the entrance to the Jimmy Carter Presidential Center Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in Atlanta. Carter died Sunday at he age of 100. (AP Photo/John Bazemore )
A woman leaves flowers in tribute to former President Jimmy Carter at the entrance to the Jimmy Carter Presidential Center Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in Atlanta. Carter died Sunday at he age of 100. (AP Photo/John Bazemore )
A Habitat for Humanity hard hat is among the items left in tribute to former President Jimmy Carter at the entrance to the Jimmy Carter Presidential Center Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in Atlanta. Carter died Sunday at he age of 100. (AP Photo/John Bazemore )
Tom Chaffin, of Atlanta, leaves flowers at the entrance to the Jimmy Carter Presidential Center Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in Atlanta. Carter died Sunday at he age of 100. (AP Photo/John Bazemore )
