NFL Playoff Predictions: Denver Broncos and Playoff Teams Doomed to Fail

The Denver Broncos should be elated to be in the playoff hunt. Tim Tebow has shocked the world, and John Fox has Denver's Von Miller-led defense playing lights out.

Unfortunately, the first round of the playoffs is as far as they'll go. Winning the AFC West by default says nothing about how they'll perform against a playoff-caliber team.

The inconsistent AFC is wide open, but with the Broncos defense allowing 40 points against the Bills this week and 41 against the Patriots last week, they can't hope to compete in the postseason.

They aren't the only team doomed to fail in their first outing either. Here are two more teams that will see the same fate.

Houston Texans

The Texans are going to have a horrible experience in the first playoff game in franchise history. Andre Johnson has been in and out of the lineup all season long, Arian Foster came limping into this season with a nagging hamstring and the injury bug delivered a knockout bite when Matt Schaub fell to injury.

Rookie late-round pick T.J. Yates isn't the answer. He's shown that he's prone to mistakes, and the Texans' explosive offense is significantly dumbed down.

They've lost to the Panthers and the Colts in the past two weeks, and with the dangerous wild-card teams the AFC is going to crank out this season, the Texans have no shot.

Detroit Lions

The Lions have a lot of young, talented pieces. Unfortunately, they have close to no playoff experience in their roster, and the NFC is jam-packed with talented teams who have a serious shot at winning it all this year.

The Lions have won three in a row, but all five of their losses have come against NFC teams, and playing on the road won't help matters.

The Lions have orchestrated a number of improbable comebacks to bail themselves out late in games. They've got a ton of talent, but the silly mistakes and lack of control are going to make this ferocious team dead meat in January.

Follow @ASU52