From 1990 through 2004, the home team in the divisional round won 81.7 percent of the time. From 2005 through 2012, the success rate fell to 56.3 percent.
This year, it’ll be 75 percent. And the last of the four games feels a lot like the typical divisional-round game played from 1990 through 2004.
Far more often than not, the team that earned the bye week steadily but surely suffocated the nothing-to-lose wild-card winner. That’s precisely what the Broncos are doing to the Chargers, leading 17-0 through three quarters.
Despite losing to the Chargers in Denver one month ago today, the Broncos were and are the superior team. They’re showing it today, via a game with a score that doesn’t feel as close as a 17-point shutout.
While the game isn’t over and anything can happen, it’s hard to imagine a Chargers team that has scored no points through 45 minutes mustering 17 in 15.