While the Broncos rope-a-doped their way to a 14-3 record, only a fool believes they can win the Super Bowl this way.

On a Sunday when Denver earned the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs by beating a poor facsimile of the Chargers 19-3, Broncomaniacs celebrated by smothering the home team with tough love and a smattering of boos.

And you know what?

Coach Sean Payton can certainly relate to the uneasy dissatisfaction of Denver fans yearning for a championship.

“Look, am I ever happy? No,” Payton said, as he stood at a podium, peering at the note-scribblers at his postgame press conference.

“Truer words have never been spoken,” I muttered from my seat in the peanut gallery of the media room.

Well, that little piece of truth certainly got the coach’s attention.

And it gave Payton the opportunity to address me rather than delve into the reasons that quarterback Bo Nix and his offensive teammates have been sleepwalking with their eyes wide open for the majority of the last six weeks.

“I know, truer words have never been spoken, Mark,” said Payton, fixing his gaze on me. “Speak up, because you’re always here. But you never make eye contact, never ask any questions. But you have a lot to write.”

It was a classic bit from Bill Parcells’ playbook that Payton has memorized cover to cover.

Letting everyone know who’s large and in charge, an old-school coach wisely controls the narrative from the practice field to the stadium to the media room.

Looking Payton straight in the eye, I shared my thoughts loud enough for all to hear: “Truer words have never been spoken. You’re never happy.”

“Thank you. You’re exactly right,” Payton said. “But I think that’s a good trait. There’s some things when we watch that film, we’ll be like: Aw …”

What’s that they say about the wide-angle, all-22 video of games that coaches critique?

The eye in the sky doesn’t lie.

What the Broncos have put on tape the past six weeks won’t win them the Super Bowl.

But don’t get it twisted.

By dethroning the Chiefs and winning the division for the first time in a decade, what the Broncos have done is a monumental achievement.

That the campaign for Payton as NFL Coach of the Year hasn’t gained more traction is proof that ESPN pundits don’t realize what a limited arsenal of offensive weapons he’s dealing with when calling plays for Denver.

When defensive coordinator Vance Joseph shook my hand in the Broncos locker room after this victory, I made sure to look him in the eye to say he has done a helluva job. His return to a franchise that fired him as a head coach in December 2018 is a great comeback story that should earn Joseph another shot to call all the shots on an NFL sideline.

Credit where credit is due.

Denver cornerback Pat Surtain II, however, spoke the whole truth when he said: “We’re not a finished product.”

The Broncos are a work in progress, well ahead of schedule in rebuilding from the Russell Wilson fiasco that would’ve doomed a lesser franchise to failure for at least five years, refusing to succumb to the $85 million in dead cap it cost to part ways with Mr. Unlimited.

The Denver defense richly deserves time off before the playoffs after carrying an offense that’s well beyond vanilla. It’s bland, cautious and simply not worthy of the No. 1 seed.

“A win is a win. I don’t care if it’s 3-2. It doesn’t have to be exciting,” Broncos receiver Courtland Sutton said.

“I know the style points aren’t out there. I know all the fantasy people and all the gamblers get upset with us, because we probably aren’t doing what they want us to do. But at the end of the day, our job is to have one more point than the other team.”

Gather all seven coaches in the AFC playoffs in a football meeting room, and Payton goes to the head of the class to set the tone before scribbling X’s and O’s on a whiteboard.

There’s no coach in the AFC side of the tournament as good as Payton.

But we must also be honest with the flip side.

The seven QBs in the AFC bracket include Josh Allen, Justin Herbert and Lamar Jackson. Whether you go by the eye test or the statistical analysis, Nix ranks dead last. Maybe sixth, if we’re grading on a generous curve.

These Broncos are easy to love, but sometimes hard to watch. And maybe that explains why they heard booing in the fourth quarter of a game that earned Denver the No. 1 seed.

“They’re not really booing me, they’re booing a certain player, they’re not booing a certain coach. It’s just kind of the whole thing,” said Nix, who was sacked four times and threw for a meager 141 yards against a Chargers defense that gave a rest day to edge rusher Khalil Mack and safety Derwin James.

The Broncos got the No. 1 seed through stellar coaching.

To win the Super Bowl, however, it takes stellar players.