The bye week in the National Football League is a time for players and coaches to wind down from the grueling season and just relax. Each team gets one and for the Denver Broncos, it could not have come at a better time. Players are nicked up and the playoff race is heating up in the West, widely considered to be the toughest division in football. Now is the time to visit family and friends, enjoy the snowy Rocky Mountains, and just forget all your troubles.

Denver, as well as Kansas City and Oakland, all have seven wins and would represent half of the AFC playoffs if they started today. The Chiefs are currently in the No. 2 spot and would get the first-round bye, while the Raiders would travel to Baltimore as the fifth seed. Denver would hop on a plane to Houston to face Brock Osweiler and the Texans as the sixth seed.

Of course, you want to be a Buccaneers and Texans fan this weekend as they travel to Arrowhead and The Black Hole respectively, but what about the other games? We here at BSN have three more important games that you should be watching this weekend and why they matter—if Denver stays put as the sixth seed.

Steelers @ Browns

The Cleveland Browns are off to the worst start in franchise history and it does not get easier as they play host to a Pittsburgh Steelers team coming off a crushing loss at home against the Dallas Cowboys.

Pittsburgh (4-5) has not played like the Steelers of the past this season and are currently out of the playoffs picture at second in the AFC North behind Baltimore (5-4) and only one is set to make the playoff push.

If Pittsburgh can knock off Cleveland and get back to .500, their chances of making the playoffs would greatly increase with one more game against the Ravens coming on Christmas day. What that means for the Orange & Blue is they would be traveling to Pittsburgh for a divisional-round showdown and Denver is 0-2 all-time in playoff games in Pittsburgh.

Titans @ Colts

While both of these teams are currently out of the playoff picture, Both Tennessee (5-5) and Indianapolis (4-5) could easily slide into a lead of the AFC South at any time.

The Houston Texans travel to Oakland to face a Raiders team on Monday night that is out to prove a point this season, while Houston is trying to keep their quarterback struggles under wraps. The only winner here if Oakland wins is the winner of the Titians-Colts.

Indy has the tie-breaker against the Titians and with a win would get back to 5-5, one game behind Houston with one a game yet to play. If the Colts could sneak their way into the mix, which could easily happen with Andrew Luck, Denver would have to travel to Lucas Oil Stadium opening weekend, a stadium that has never seen a Broncos playoff victory.

Dolphins @ Rams

The Miami Dolphins are currently 5-4 and second place in the AFC East, behind a surging Patriots team that should run away with the division title, but there is always a chance at the Wild Card for these fish. The Dolphins travel to Los Angeles to play a Rams team that cannot seem to find their balance and have decided to hand over the reins to rookie Jared Goff.

Miami has won four straight and with a little help from an Oakland collapse, the Dolphins could swim into a Wild-Card spot and travel to Denver for a divisional round matchup. The Broncos bested the Fins in their only playoff matchup.

The good news for the Broncos as they head into the final stretch is that the team controls their own destiny. That’s right, the Broncos could still grab the No. 1 seed and home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs if they were able to win out. Just in case, though, keep an eye on the matchups above.