The Cincinnati Bengals kept their candle of posteason hope burning bright on Saturday night with an epic back-and-forth overtime win over the Denver Broncos. With the victory, Cincy remained alive in the AFC playoff race, but a lot still needs to go right for Joe Burrow's squad to see postseason play.

In order to make the playoffs, the Bengals must win their Week 18 matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Indianapolis Colts or Miami Dolphins must lose one of their final two games and the Broncos must lose to the Kansas City Chiefs. Thanks to an NFL Sunday news break from FOX's Jay Glazer, that last item feels more unlikely than ever to come to fruition.

On Sunday morning, the insider revealed the Chiefs plan to rest their starters for the final game of the season. And, Kansas City will be generous to designate anybody who's dealing with even the lightest of injuries as out.

"They're not playing any of their starters," Glazer said on FOX NFL Sunday. "Anybody who's banged up. Anybody like Patrick Mahomes, Chris Jones. If you've got a hangnail and you're a starter, you're not playing for Kansas City. They want to make sure they go into the playoffs healthy."

As laid out above, it's a long shot for the Bengals to squeeze into the playoffs. But this development knocks their already-slim chances down a few notches. Bo Nix and Denver's roster knows they'll be playing for their playoff lives and won't let up against the Carson Wentz-led backups for KC.

Of course, how the Broncos do doesn't matter if the Bengals can't take care of their own business and if the Dolphins and Colts win out. There will be a lot to watch next Sunday.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Chiefs' Plan for Starters in Week 18 vs. Broncos Is Bad News for Bengals.

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