"This was a celebration without cheers. A party without music. Or food or drink. Or fun. The Broncos have a team meeting at 9 a.m. today at their headquarters. Maybe spirits will improve by then. For the first time in six years, the Broncos are going to the playoffs as AFC West champions.

They won despite losing. In a game the Broncos thought sure they had to win, they lost to former Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton? and the Kansas City Chiefs? 7-3 on Sunday before a crowd of fans with mixed feelings at Sports Authority Field at Mile High.

Yippee-ay-yawn.

Will the Broncos vote Orton a playoff share?

"I don't want it," Orton said, smiling as he walked toward the Chiefs' team bus. "If they give me one, I won't take it."

The Broncos made the playoffs on the regular ?season's final day because their good friend Philip Rivers and the San Diego Chargers? defeated the Oakland Raiders? 38-26. In the bigger scheme, the Broncos made the playoffs because of a six-game winning streak that stretched from Nov. 6 with a victory at Oakland and ended Dec. 11 with an overtime victory against Chicago.

Little did the Broncos know at the time they would need nothing more to win the AFC West. They are in the playoffs for the first time since the 2005 season even though they've lost three in a row.

The Broncos will play Pittsburgh at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. The Steelers' 12-4 record is far better than the Broncos' 8-8, but the game will be played in Denver because division champ trumps wild card. The Steelers are a wild-card playoff entrant because they finished second in the AFC North to Baltimore.

The Broncos won their division because they had the kiss-the-sister tiebreakers against the Raiders and Chargers, who also finished 8-8."