Broncos choose to make their own lives more difficult by agreeing to puzzling late-season scheduling decision

According to NFL insider Albert Breer, the league had to get the Broncos' approval to make the decision since it will be the second road Thursday night game of the season for Denver.

This is a puzzling decision from the Broncos for multiple reasons, the first being that they will play on a short week in late December. Players are beat up and exhausted by that point of the season, making it tough to play on just three days rest. The next challenge is Denver being the road team, which means having to travel on a quick turnaround.  

The cherry on top of both of those factors is that these teams are closely jockeying for playoff seeding. Los Angeles defeated Denver back in Week 6, so the Broncos are going to be in huge need of winning this Week 16 rematch. The Broncos, who currently hold the seventh and final playoff seed in the AFC, trail the Chargers (currently the No. 5 seed) by one game. 

The Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals were originally slated for the Thursday night slot, but will now play the following Sunday at 1 p.m. ET. Ironically, Denver plays Cincinnati the following week. However, choosing to be fresh against a 4-7 Bengals team and playing a 7-3 Chargers team on a short week is, frankly, not a smart decision.