BSN Breakdown: Ranking the Broncos’, Patriots’ and Bengals’ toughest remaining games

Five weeks remaining in the regular season and only one game separating the New England Patriots, Cincinnati Bengals and your Denver Broncos – the top three teams in the American Football Conference.

Who will emerge with the No. 1 seed? Which team will be forced to play an extra game in the wild-card round?

Soon it will be Christmas Day and a little more than a week after that, we’ll get to unwrap the actual AFC playoff seedings.

In the meantime we’re still a month of dramatic stretch-run football away, and here are the 15 remaining games for the AFC’s Big Three, ranked in order of what figures to be the easiest to the most challenging:

Patriots vs. Titans (Week 15) – Bill Belichick in the Pats’ home finale against a rookie quarterback is a mismatch virtually guaranteed to further boost the Titans’ chances of landing the top overall pick in next spring’s draft.

Bengals at 49ers (Week 15) – The rag-tag Niners and QB Blaine Gabbert will present a welcome respite for Cincy in between games against the Steelers and Broncos.

Bengals at Browns (Week 13) – Cleveland will be starting its third quarterback of the season Sunday in Austin Davis and will likely still be in shock following Monday night’s “kick-six” loss to the Ravens.

Patriots vs. Eagles (Week 13) – With Philly having surrendered 45 points and five touchdown passes in back-to-back games, how many points will a fired-up Tom Brady put up coming off a loss – depleted pass-catching corps or not?

Bengals vs. Ravens (Week 17) – Cincy has beaten their AFC North rivals four straight times – and that was with Joe Flacco playing quarterback.

Broncos vs. Chargers (Week 17) – Yeah, it’s a division rivalry, but the Chargers figure to be more concerned about their off-season vacation plans than upending the Orange & Blue in the regular-season finale.

Broncos at Chargers (Week 13) – The Bolts’ defense is a mess, but the Broncos will once again have to overcome a disadvantage at quarterback (and the Sports Illustrated cover jinx) with Brock Osweiler starting opposite the red-hot Philip Rivers on the road.

Broncos vs. Raiders (Week 14) – Derek Carr and Co. will be dangerous fighting for their playoff lives, and if this is the week Peyton Manning is healthy enough to return, it could create a Mile-High distraction.

Patriots at Texans (Week 14) – Don’t look now, but Houston is in the midst of one of the league’s most stirring second-half turnarounds, and J.J. Watt and Co. should present some prime-time problems for Tom Brady, especially if Gronk is still missing in action.

Patriots at Dolphins (Week 17) – Who knows what the Dolphins’ mentality will be like in the season finale, but it’s been anything but a tropical vacation of late for New England in South Beach as the Pats have dropped their last two games in Miami.

Bengals vs. Steelers (Week 14) – Cincy won 16-10 in the Steel City in Week 8 but has only swept the regular-season series twice in the last 20 years.

Broncos vs. Bengals (Week 16) – As the Bengals showed last Dec. 22, they know how to beat the Broncos in Monday Night Football season finales.

Broncos at Steelers (Week 15) – Provided Big Ben Roethlisberger isn’t on crutches or in the concussion protocol, the Steelers have the offensive weapons to make any team more than a little nervous.

Patriots at Jets (Week 16) – Brady’s bunch prevailed 30-23 in a hard-fought Week 7 game in Foxborough, but the J-E-T-S very likely could be playing for their postseason lives in this rematch in the Meadowlands.

Bengals at Broncos (Week 16) – A prime-time road game for Andy Dalton against one of the league’s top defenses – need we say more?