Renck: Feeding off Sean Payton, Broncos’ only acceptable outcome for this season is making the playoffs

From the 15th row behind the goalposts, a young boy stands and flexes his muscles. A game day giveaway Lucha Libre mask covers his face and a Bo Nix jersey hangs loosely over his shoulders.

Several seats over, a rectangular navy blue banner shimmers in the afternoon sunlight above Section 133, “You’re In Broncos Country,” it screams.

Full-throttle cheers, a head coach yelling at an opponent, home-field dominance — this is what the beginning of a new era looks like.

The Broncos are going to the playoffs. There is no other acceptable conclusion to this season.

It is officially time to disassociate from rebuilding and face reality: The Broncos have no excuse to miss out on the postseason after clobbering the Carolina Panthers, 28-14.

The only thing competitive Sunday was the halftime corgi race.

“We are going to play teams a lot better than that,” said coach Sean Payton, who exchanged pleasantries with the Panthers’ Jaycee Horn after the cornerback groused about the Broncos trying to run up the score. “That is just the truth.”

The Broncos reached the halfway point two games over .500 for the first time since 2016. That team finished 9-7, the franchise’s last winning season. The seven years since have been defined by puffs of white smoke from Broncos headquarters to indicate the team had a new coach.

Denver has the right one in Payton, an unforgiving leader who gives off Mike Shanahan vibes with his pursuit of excellence. He spent part of his postgame presser lamenting two fumbles by receivers, reluctant to put his arms around the team’s fifth win in six games.

It is understood that Sunday demands qualifiers: the Panthers were a homecoming opponent, the antidote for the Broncos’ passing-starved offense. Believing the Broncos will reach the playoffs focuses on a bigger picture.

They boast a 5-3 record. It does not require squinting to find five more wins, and that’s assuming losses in upcoming roadies at Baltimore and Kansas City. Denver has home games remaining against the Falcons, Browns, Colts and Chiefs. All are winnable for a variety of reasons: Atlanta’s defense stinks, Cleveland just stinks, Indianapolis’ Anthony Richardson is less accurate than a Colorado winter forecast, and Kansas City could rest its starters in the season finale with the No. 1 seed secured.

The road is where dreams used to go to die. But the Broncos have won three straight away from Mile High. Even if they fall to the Ravens and Chiefs — they opened as nine-point underdogs against Baltimore — not only can they post victories in two of three at the Raiders, Chargers and Bengals, they should.

The coach does not make excuses for his team, why should we?

Payton told the players after the game in Club W (the faux smoke from the locker room celebration set off the fire alarm in the press conference area), that their expectations cannot be lower than his. Beating bad teams is what you do when you are no longer a bad team.

“He’s right (about his goals). We are young with a lot of guys who haven’t had playoff experience. There are bigger games out there, but they don’t know it,” star defensive end Zach Allen said. “So we have to make sure the urgency and consistency is there and make sure we stay on task because we do have a special group and you don’t want to waste a good team and good years like this.”

Since the schedule expanded to 17 games in 2021, no 10-win team has missed the playoffs.

Seven teams make it. The Broncos sit fifth in the standings, ahead of the Ravens (5-3), Chargers (4-3), Colts (4-4), Bengals (3-5) and Dolphins (2-5). The Ravens will finish in front of them. So might the Chargers.

That leaves Denver needing to stiffarm the Colts and Bengals, both looming in the second half, to reach the postseason for the first time since Super Bowl 50. The Colts’ schedule includes the Vikings, Bills, Lions and Broncos. Cincinnati faces the Steelers twice, the Ravens, Chargers and Broncos.

The odds swung in the Broncos’ favor in October, a month Payton owns more than Halloween (49-17 record and 6-3 in Denver).

The coach did not concede the season when the team decided to eat $53 million of Russell Wilson’s contract. What others viewed as an impossible dead cap move, he envisioned as a new life.

You don’t think he can win without Wilson? Pull up a chair.

Payton’s demeanor blurs between arrogance and confidence. He was the guy calling fake field goals and wide receiver passes with a 21-point lead. The Panthers whined about it afterward, and if you think Payton gives two dumps you don’t know the first thing about him.

This team is slowly taking on his personality.

Typically at this point of the season, the Broncos are killing the vibe, standing idly with their hands in their pockets, taking up space. Sunday they rubbed their opponent’s nose in it — they are 3-0 against the NFC South, outscoring them 87-31 — and Payton made no apologies.

This is what his good teams do. They irritate and, if possible, humiliate. The ceiling is foggy, but the floor is now the postseason.

The Drive for Five begins now.

“I think one thing that sticks out is that you have a coach who really believes in his players and believes in his team,” quarterback Bo Nix said. “High standards for a coach is the ultimate sign of respect for a player. He sees something in our team and we have to go out and execute.”

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