By Chris Catania, NFL Correspondent -- The resurgent Denver Broncos welcome the Chicago Bears to Invesco Field at Mile High for a Week 12 showdown on Sunday. The Bears have lost 12 straight road games dating back to last season.

Denver may have turned in the best performance by a team this year in snapping its three-game losing streak last week with a 37-8 win over the Chargers. The Broncos could have won by 50 it was such a completely dominating performance through three quarters. The Broncos roared to a 27-0 halftime lead and led 34-0 in the fourth quarter. San Diego had just 18 yards at the half and running back LaDainian Tomlinson was held to 29 yards on eight carries. With Jake Plummer back at quarterback, Denver rolled up 448 yards of offense. Clinton Portis ran for over 100 yards and tight end Shannon Sharpe topped 100 yards receiving and was on the receiving end of all three of Plummer's touchdown passes.

The Bears lost in the final minute for a second straight week, dropping a 23-21 decision to the Rams. Chicago had a surprising 14-3 halftime lead and didn't fold when the Rams took a fourth quarter lead at 20-14. Chris Chandler marched the Bears down the field for the go-ahead touchdown. After a St. Louis field goal, the Bears had a long kick return but elected not to try a 54-yard field goal. Chandler did not hear the final play call and misfired deep on the game's last play when a short completion to the sideline would have put the Bears in field goal position.

Denver is tied for the final AFC playoff spot and needs to beat the Bears and Raiders before playing a difficult final quarter of the schedule. The Broncos were 6-2 last year before fading to a 9-7 finish. Veteran receiver Rod Smith says the Broncos cannot let up after pounding the Chargers.

"We can't afford it," he said of overlooking the Bears. "We are trying to keep ourselves in the hunt for the playoffs and at the same time we have to get our team better for later in the season. We need to get better each and every week. We made a lot of mistakes in that game [against San Diego]. We dominated the game with defense -- 21 yards through three and a half quarters is amazing -- but there are still some things in there that we are going to correct. Offensively, we should have had 21 more points and we have to correct those things."

SERIES HISTORY: The Broncos, who have a 6-5 edge in the series, have captured each of the past three meetings.

The teams have not played since November 10, 1996. The Broncos won 17-12 at home.

Chicago's Dick Jauron has never coached against the Broncos. Denver's Mike Shanahan is 1-0 against the Bears.

BEARS OFFENSE VS. BRONCOS DEFENSE

With two weeks to prepare for a division opponent, the Denver defense was stifling against the Chargers. Outside linebackers Donnie Spragan and Jashon Sykes played better than expected in filling in for John Mobley and Ian Gold.

Both starters are out for the season, and the Broncos lost another linebacker last week, as second-round pick Terry Pierce was hurt in punt coverage and was also placed on injured reserve. Keith Burns will now back up at middle and strong-side linebacker, and recently signed veteran Johnny Rutledge will back up on the weak side.

While San Diego fell behind early and could not get Tomlinson in rhythm, the Bears must stay close early and establish the running game with Anthony Thomas. The A-Train had 92 yards on 25 carries and helped keep the Rams' offense off the field last week. Thomas has gained over 90 yards in five of his last six games and needs another big day to keep Denver's high-scoring offense on the sidelines.

Wide receiver Marty Booker is getting healthier and could come up with a big play against a thin Denver secondary. Chicago's best plan of attack, though, will be to find former Bronco Desmond Clark. The tight end caught a touchdown last week and should have favorable matchups with the young Denver linebackers or safety Kenoy Kennedy.

Chandler is no guarantee, though, to get the ball to his receivers. After leading the Bears to a pair of wins after being named the starter, Chandler played poorly in the past two games, a pair of two-point losses at home. Chandler's numbers the last two weeks are 32-for-60 for just 302 yards and three interceptions.

Chandler hasn't helped the Bears get off to a fast start yet, either. He threw two first half interceptions against St. Louis and the Bears still do not have a first quarter touchdown this season.

Jauron doesn't know why Chandler has played so poorly after leading the team to consecutive wins against the Lions and Chargers.

"I don't have any answer for that," Jauron said. "I have so much confidence in his ability that I expect him to hit every ball and that's not reasonable either."

For the first time Jauron said he thought it would be good for first-round pick Rex Grossman to get some experience this year. Grossman may play soon, but not while the Bears still have a mathematical chance for the playoffs.

The Broncos announced the suspension of DT Daryl Gardener this week for conduct detrimental to the team. Shanahan said Gardener's suspension is immediate and will take effect this week versus Chicago.

BRONCOS OFFENSE VS. BEARS DEFENSE

Denver has experience on its side. The Bears have been forced to play rookies on defense this season, and it cost them last week. On St. Louis' game-winning drive, rookie cornerback Charles Tillman was flagged for hands to the face one play after rookie linebacker Lance Briggs was called for illegal contact. The flags wiped out a sack and an incompletion and gave the Rams first downs.

The Bears can't afford to repeat those stupid mistakes against the Broncos. After looking inept with Danny Kanell at quarterback, the Broncos again looked like serious playoff contenders with Plummer under center after missing four games with a broken bone in his foot.

"It is obvious what he means to us if we are 5-1 with him and 1-3 without him," Portis said. "I think if you look at those four games when we were 1-3, there wasn't a lot of things happening downfield. We weren't spreading the ball around or getting the ball in the hands of our playmakers. We weren't getting Ashley [Lelie] the ball downfield. We weren't hitting Sharpe on the post route. We couldn't get the ball into Rod's hands. So to have Jake, he is going to go through his reads: one, two, three and four and then coming out backside to me at times. He is just going through all his reads and getting it to the open man."

Portis has 899 yards rushing on the season and a 4.9 average. He said the Bears are a hard-hitting defense but can be susceptible to big runs when they put eight men near the line of scrimmage in short-yardage situations.

"As a defensive unit, they are real physical," Portis said. "They pursue to the ball and they just want to be physical. We've seen a lot of times where [on short-yardage situations] they stack the box and a couple of running backs have made big runs on them. They want to be physical and they want to hit you. We just have to be prepared for that."

Smith, the former college quarterback who made himself a Pro Bowl receiver, became a punt returner last week with regular return man Deltha O'Neal inactive. O'Neal was burned on defense in Denver's Monday night loss to New England before the bye and misjudged a punt, costing Denver valuable field position at the end of that game. Smith returned a punt 65 yards for a touchdown against the Chargers and has no qualms about handling the dangerous duty.

"What difference does it make whether you get injured on special teams or on offense?" Smith quipped. "Every time you step on the football field, there is a risk. Everybody takes that risk. When you go out there and you are timid, thinking about getting hurt -- you will. You have to go out there and go full speed. Whatever happens is going to happen and there is nothing that you can do about it."

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Denver 27, Chicago 10