DENVER — The Broncos' regular-season finale is set. Denver will host the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday, Jan. 4 at 2:25 p.m. MT on CBS, the NFL announced Sunday. The NFL announced the Week 18 schedule following the conclusion of "Sunday Night Football."

In a game with high stakes for the Denver Broncos on Sunday, things should be a little easier now that they are learning they won't face the Chargers franchise quarterback.

Chargers fans get a potentially really fun viewing experience in Week 18, for a lot of reasons (Justin Herbert can't get hurt, for one).

The NFL announced the following scenarios for the Broncos (vs. Los Angeles Chargers, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2:25 p.m., CBS) to clinch the AFC's No. 1 seed in Week 18: Denver clinches the AFC West division title and the AFC's No. 1 seed, lone first-round bye and home-field advantage with:

The Denver Broncos defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 20-13 in week 17 at Arrowhead Stadium Thursday night. The Broncos closed it out with the game-winning touchdown coming late in the fourth quarter.

Week 18 is officially set. The NFL on Sunday announced the Denver Broncos' regular-season finale against the Los Angeles Chargers will take place on Sunday at Empower Field at Mile High, with kickoff scheduled for 2:25 p.m. MT. The game will be broadcast on CBS.

Here’s a look at how various national experts rated the Broncos in their power rankings entering Week 18:

While those are the playoff implications for this Christmas Day slate, one of the other storylines will be the onslaught of injuries at quarterback for an array of these teams suiting up on Thursday. The Commanders, Vikings and Chiefs will all be starting backups, which sort of feels like a lump of coal, but we'll make do.

We've reached the final week of the regular season. Here's an early look at some predictions and picks for the 2026 NFL playoffs.