Bo Nix might not have been perfect against the Chiefs.
But he was close enough.
The blocked field goal with a single second left on the clock at Arrowhead Stadium certainly spoiled Sunday afternoon in Denver – and it might ultimately spoil the Broncos shot at a postseason berth – but more than anything, it spoiled the Nix’s most impressive game as a professional quarterback. A successful kick would have given the Broncos a well-deserved win, put an end to one of the luckiest winning streaks in NFL history and alerted the entire country that Nix is the real deal.
Instead, Nix’s coming out party will have to wait.
That doesn’t mean Nix isn’t well on his way to becoming a bona fide NFL signal caller. He is. His performance on Sunday – Nix went 22-of-30 for 215 yards, zero interceptions and two touchdowns – was a clear indicator that he’s fully capable of leading the Broncos back to where haven’t been for nearly a decade now. His rating of 115.3 wasn’t his “best” of the season, as he posted 117.2 and 124.2 against the Raiders and Panthers respectively, but it (and he) was better than Mahomes on the day. That’s not to say the future Hall of Famer isn’t better – he still is – but in the biggest game of his young career, on the road in one of the NFL’s most hostile environments, against a team that has had the entire league’s number for the better part of five seasons, Nix put the Broncos in position to win. It was practically a gimme.
Remember, nobody has beaten the Chiefs. Nix, a rookie, should have.
Nix’s stats, while solid, did not tell the story. It was his awareness in not taking sacks. It was his understanding of down and distance, it was his gutty throw on 3rd-and-6 from the KC 30-yard line with 1:53 left in the game.
That throw, specifically, is the kind that real NFL quarterbacks make; moving from the pocket, zipping one perfectly into the numbers of the most reliable target on the field, picking up 13 yards when the game is on the line. In essence, that one throw won the game for Denver, forcing the Chiefs to use all of their timeouts, allowing for a chip-shot field goal with no time on the clock, three points that shoulda-woulda-coulda sent the Broncos back to DIA with a 6-4 record and in great position for a playoff run. But it didn’t work out that way. Alas, the football gods favored the Chiefs once again.
There are no moral victories, although the Broncos 2024 season as a whole should come as a huge sigh of relief – playoffs or not.
Sure, everyone wants to see Denver break its postseason drought, but if this season indicates anything, it’s that the Broncos are finally on the right track. No longer is the franchise grasping at straws when it comes to the game’s most important position. No longer will George Paton and Sean Payton be in search of a quarterback. They’ve got one, a really good one.
Had the score been just a little different – 17-16, let’s say – the national conversation on Monday morning would have been all about Nix and the Broncos. With a loss, the narrative will change just slightly: “Nix was good, just not good enough.” And the masses won’t know or take the time to know what the Broncos young quarterback truly did in the biggest game of his career. He’s already won honors as the AFC Offensive Rookie of the Month – a feather in his cap to be sure – but beating the Chiefs in Kansas City would have put him on the map.
That will have to wait.
Then again, who needs a party when you’ve got a franchise quarterback?