4:39 PM ET
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    Coley HarveyESPN Staff Writer

CINCINNATI -- The NFL calendar might say it's only Week 16 of the regular season, but don't tell the Cincinnati Bengals that.

Some of their players have already convinced themselves the regular season has ended, and the postseason has already begun. To them, Monday night's showdown at Sports Authority Field in Denver will have the look, feel, smell and energy of a playoff game.

They just hope it has a vastly different outcome than their recent, actual, playoff games.

"We know what's at stake. We're ready for the fight," Bengals safety Reggie Nelson said. "This is the playoffs. The playoffs have been started for us. We just have to come out and play our football and don't let nothing else distract us."

Added coach Marvin Lewis: "Our guys know it's a business trip, and this weekend, we have a championship trip. We've got to make it that way."

A win on the road against Denver, which has the league's No. 1 defense, would lock the Bengals into the AFC's No. 2 seed for the playoffs. It would also go a long way toward massaging backup quarterback AJ McCarron's confidence and give Cincinnati some peace of mind as it endures starter Andy Dalton's injury. That seeding is important, because it means the Bengals would be off the first week of the playoffs, giving Dalton one more week to get his right thumb healthy.

With one of the top two seeds, the Bengals also would earn the right to host at least one playoff game.

"This one here, it's exciting," defensive end Wallace Gilberry said. "People were wondering why we weren't smiling last week after we beat San Francisco [last week]. It's because we knew this game here was way more important. Once that game was over with, we wish we could have played Thursday. Guys are eager."

But they know they aren't the only ones.

"I know those guys are looking at it the same way," cornerback Adam Jones said. "It's a big game."

Broncos defensive end Von Miller told Bengals reporters on a conference call Wednesday that he believed Denver's past five or six games have been good "test rehearsals" not only for this one, but also for what could be ahead after Week 17. With a win, the Broncos would of course keep alive their hopes of earning the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye. But if they lose and surging Kansas City continues to win, they run the risk of missing the playoffs altogether. For that to happen, they would have to lose out and Kansas City -- which started 1-5, with one of those games being a loss to Cincinnati -- would have to win its final two games.

Bottom line: there is a lot riding on this game for both teams.

"It will be a playoff atmosphere-type game for us, at least," Gilberry said. "We're going to come out firing our best shots in every aspect of this game."