Even in defeat, Tim Tebow came out a winner.

Tebow fell short in his latest comeback bid, yet his Denver Broncos still made it the playoffs Sunday.

As the AFC West champions, no less. Meaning more Tebowmania, at least for another week.

Former Denver quarterback Kyle Orton got his revenge in leading the Kansas City Chiefs over the Broncos 7-3. But the Broncos wound up in the postseason anyway when San Diego knocked off Oakland minutes later.

“It’s obviously a little bittersweet right now,” Tebow said. “We would have loved to have won that game to have a little momentum going into the playoffs. But I think it’s still a special thing what we accomplished, to come back and win the AFC West is very special.”

Now, the Broncos (8-8) will host the wild-card Pittsburgh Steelers (12-4) in the first round next Sunday.

“Well, we’re AFC West champs,” Broncos coach John Fox said. “It doesn’t matter how you do it. Once you get into the dance, they can’t kick you out.”

After begrudgingly congratulating Orton, the Broncos celebrated the end to their six-year playoff drought once the Chargers eliminated the Raiders 38-26.

Denver finished 8-8, same as the Raiders and Chargers. They won their first division title since 2005 on a tiebreaker, going 6-6 against common opponents while the others went 5-7.

So, everybody at Mile High got what they wanted even though Tebow couldn’t beat the guy he failed to beat out in training camp.

Orton, who also handed Green Bay its only loss, went 2-1 in Kansas City. His steady play likely raised his stock as he prepares to enter free agency. And he might have secured interim coach Romeo Crennel’s future with the Chiefs (7-9).

Best of all, he beat the team that benched him after he finally caved under the weight of Tebowmania and the Broncos stumbled to a 1-4 start.

Orton had laid low all week but he finally ‘fessed up after the game that this game had special meaning to him even though it was for pride and payback and not the playoffs.

“I can’t hide that,” he said. “But I congratulate those guys. They’re in. I congratulate them and I look forward to next year.”

The Broncos revamped their offense to fit Tebow’s unconventional skill set and surged to the top of their division. They released Orton in the midst of a 7-1 run that included a series of fourth-quarter comebacks that captivated the football world.

Never before in the four-plus decades since the AFL-NFL merger has a starting quarterback returned to start a game in the same season against his former team.

Neither QB had a great day. The game’s only touchdown came on Dexter McCluster’s 21-yard scamper in the first quarter, so this game was as much about the punting Colquitt brothers, Dustin and Britton, as it was about Orton vs. Tebow.

The Broncos got one last shot when they got the ball at their 16 with just under a minute left.

Tebow time? Not this time.

Because Fox had declined to go for a 57-yard field goal in the closing seconds of the first half — he was afraid a miss would set up the Chiefs for a double-digit halftime lead — the Broncos had to go 84 yards in 47 seconds instead of just needing to get into range for another game-winner by Matt Prater.

Tebow, who had completed four passes all afternoon with the Broncos running 47 times for 216 yards, including 145 by Willis McGahee, suddenly had to chuck it.

And he was intercepted by cornerback Brandon Carr with 8 seconds left.

Tebow finished 6 of 22 for 60 yards and added 16 yards on six carries.

The Broncos saved $2.6 million by releasing Orton just before Thanksgiving but Orton nearly made them pay an even heftier price for that decision, completing 15 of 29 passes for 180 yards against his former team and connecting with Dwayne Bowe six times for 93 yards before losing him for the second half with a suspected concussion.

“Dwayne was on fire in the first half, and then to lose him for the rest of the game, that really hurt our offense,” Orton said. “I have the utmost respect for Champ Bailey, but Dwayne had him turning around in circles a couple times out there.”

The Broncos lost two offensive starters in the first half when right guard Chris Kuper, the stalwart on an otherwise young line, broke his left leg and fullback Spencer Larsen hurt a knee.

Kuper’s injury made Orton’s day bittersweet, too.

“Chris Kuper is a very good friend of mine and to see what happened to him really put a damper on things,” Orton said. “He’s a great teammate, a great leader on that team and I hope he’s able to get back as soon as possible.”

Had Denver not backed into the playoffs, boss John Elway’s dangerous decision to release Orton at midseason would have gone down as one of the biggest blunders in Broncos history.

And Fox would have been second-guessed for passing up on a 57-yard field goal attempt in the first half even though his kicker is the best in the business from long distance and points were at a premium.

The Broncos finally scored on Prater’s 38-yarder in the third quarter, which followed Javier Arenas’ muffed punt at his own 20.

Coming off the worst game of his career, a four-turnover blunder at Buffalo, Tebow killed Denver’s only promising drive of the first half when he coughed up the football as he was trying to reach across the Chiefs 10-yard line for the first down and linebacker Justin Houston scooped up the loose ball.

In a surreal scene, the Chiefs (7-9) hooted and hollered in their locker room while the playoff-bound Broncos were subdued.

“When we look at our team, we can’t say this is our strength. Everything is mediocre,” Bailey said. “We’ve got to get better. If we want to make any kind of fuss in the playoffs, we’ve got to get better.”

And fast.

“Not the way you want to go in,” Bailey said as he glanced up at the Chargers-Raiders game on TV. “But, hey, we’ve got another shot.”

“Nobody said how you had to get in,” teammate Mario Haggan added. “It’s what you do with the opportunity once you get there.”

— Associated Press —

The National Football League informed the Chiefs on Wednesday that K Ryan Succop has been named AFC Special Teams Player of the Week for his efforts in Week 15 of the 2011 NFL regular season. The award is Succop’s second Special Teams Player of the Week accolade in 2011.

Succop (6-2, 218) was four-for-four on field goal attempts with a PAT, tallying 13 points en route to a 19-14 victory vs. the previously unbeaten Green Bay Packers (12/18) at Arrowhead Stadium. The South Carolina product has been successful on 21 consecutive field goal attempts, tying him with K Nick Lowery for the second-longest streak in club history. Succop is one field goal shy of tying K Pete Stoyanovich’s all-time team record of 22 straight makes. He currently holds the NFL’s longest active streak for consecutive field goals made.

Succop’s first Special Teams Player of the Week honor came in Week 4 of the regular season when the Chiefs defeated Minnesota 22-17 at Arrowhead Stadium (10/2). Kansas City’s placekicker was five-for-five on field goal attempts with a PAT, tallying a career-high 16 points. Succop connected on a career-long 54-yard field goal in the victory and his five field goals tied the club’s record for most field goals in a single game, joining Pro Football Hall of Fame K Jan Stenerud and K Nick Lowery.

Selected as the final pick in the 2009 NFL Draft (256th overall), Succop has connected on 67 of 80 career field goal attempts (.838) and has successfully hit on 89 of 89 PATs for 290 points in 46 games with the club.

— Chiefs Media Relations —

Mike McCarthy never put a whole lot of stock in a perfect season, except as a means of gaining home-field advantage and setting the Green Bay Packers up for another Super Bowl run.

Well, they still have a chance to earn home-field advantage.

The perfect season? That’s history.

Kyle Orton threw for 299 yards to outduel Aaron Rodgers, and the Kansas City Chiefs rallied behind interim coach Romeo Crennel for a shocking 19-14 victory on Sunday that ended the Packers’ 19-game winning streak. It was their first loss since Dec. 19, 2010, at New England.

“I personally always viewed the undefeated season as, really, just gravy,” McCarthy said. “The goal was to get home-field advantage and win the Super Bowl. That’s what we discussed.

“We were fortunate enough to be in the position to possibly achieve the undefeated season,” he added, “but we still have the primary goal in front of us, and that’s to get home-field advantage.”

Green Bay, playing without leading receiver Greg Jennings and top rusher James Starks because of injuries, can wrap up the No. 1 seed in their final two games against Chicago and Detroit. But the Packers no longer have the pressure of becoming the second team in NFL history to win a Super Bowl with a perfect record, or extending the second-longest winning streak in league history.

“I think our goal ultimate goal is to win a Super Bowl. The next step is getting that number one seed in the playoffs,” Rodgers said. “We’ve got a home playoff game — we’ve got a bye secured.”

Rodgers was 17 of 35 for 235 yards and a touchdown, and he also scampered 8 yards for another touchdown with 2:12 left in the game. But the Packers (13-1) were unable to recover the onside kick, and Kansas City picked up a couple of first downs to secure the victory.

“They had a good game plan,” Rodgers said. “You have to give them credit.”

Ryan Succop kicked four field goals for Kansas City (6-8), which had lost five of its last six games and fired coach Todd Haley last Monday. Jackie Battle added a short touchdown plunge with 4:53 left in the game, points that came in handy when Rodgers led one last scoring drive.

“Everybody had marked it off as a win for the Packers, but those guys in the locker room, they’re football players,” Crennel said. “They decided they were not going to lay down, they were not going to give up, so they went out and played a tremendous game.”

Neither team looked all that tremendous in the first half.

Packers wide receiver Jordy Nelson was hit twice with offensive pass interference, Rodgers was harassed by the Chiefs’ weak pass rush, and Green Bay wound up making five first downs.

One of them came when Kansas City’s Jeremy Horne ran into Packers punter Tim Masthay, giving them 15 free yards. The Chiefs tried to give Green Bay another gift later on the drive when Mason Crosby missed a 59-yard field goal attempt but Kansas City had 12 men on the field.

With another chance from 54 yards, the normally reliable Crosby still pushed the kick right.

Rodgers finished the half 6 of 17 for 59 yards, with a handful of drops between wide receiver Donald Driver and tight end Jermichael Finley. In fact, things were going so badly for Green Bay that at one point it ran out of the wildcat despite having one of the best quarterbacks in the game.

The Chiefs were still clinging to a 6-0 lead when Rodgers finally hit downfield, finding Finley over top of `the coverage for a 41-yard gain. Three plays later, the Packers’ star quarterback hit Driver in the corner of the end zone for a 7-6 lead with 8:04 left in the third quarter.

Kansas City answered when Orton hit his own tight end, Leonard Pope, for a career-long 38-yard catch. Jon Baldwin added a 17-yard grab to set up Succop’s 46-yard, go-ahead field goal.

The Packers moved into field-goal range on their ensuing drive, but rather than have Crosby attempt a 56-yard kick in the same direction he had already missed, McCarthy elected to go for it on fourth-and-9. Rodgers’ pass fell incomplete and the Chiefs took over.

They needed seven plays to cover 59 yards, but had to settle for another field goal and a 12-7 lead. It was the third time the Chiefs drove inside the 5 and had six total points to show for it.

They got seven on their next trip, though.

With first-and-goal at the 5, Thomas Jones managed to gain a yard and Le’Ron McClain bulled ahead for three more, setting up third down from just outside the goal line. Battle took the carry over the right side and powered into the end zone, giving the woeful Kansas City offense its highest-scoring game since the Chiefs beat San Diego in overtime in late October.

The Packers marched down the field in the closing minutes, and Rodgers showed his moxie by scampering around the end for a touchdown that made it 19-14, but that was as close as they got.

Green Bay came into the game averaging nearly 36 points, but was held to its lowest total since beating the Chicago Bears 10-3 in Week 17 last year. The Packers needed to win that game to make the playoffs, and wound up riding the momentum to a Super Bowl victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

All that momentum finally came to an end against the most unlikely of scenarios.

“We set the tone on both sides of the ball,” Chiefs linebacker Derrick Johnson said. “This is the great thing about football. You can’t always look at the records, because you’ve got grown men out there who are all getting paid. You don’t have to be better on paper.

“If you’re better on that given Sunday, you’ll get the win.”

— Associated Press —