Sean Payton found the courage to cut Russell Wilson and absorb a $53 million cap hit this season, freeing the Broncos to find something foreign for the past eight years: hope.
His name is Bo Nix.
As he stood at the podium on a raw Wednesday afternoon before the last regular regular-season game, the quarterback exuded confidence that belied his experience.
This is the guy you think can’t beat Carson Wentz?
That’s cute.
We have no idea what Nix’s career will look like, not until the Broncos upgrade the weapons around him with a pass-catching tight end (Tyler Warren, please) and a No. 1 receiver (Tee Higgins already looks good in orange). But we do know one thing: Nix is a franchise quarterback with a slow heartbeat who is not about to lose against the Chiefs’ backups.
His floor is already higher than the ceilings of Trevor Siemian, Case Keenum, Joe Flacco, Drew Lock, Teddy Bridgewater and Russell Wilson.
Here is all you need to know. Everything about Nix’s season comes attached to the phrases “since Peyton Manning” or “since John Elway.” I believe without hesitation that Nix will lead the Broncos to the playoffs, their first appearance since Manning in 2015.
“Obviously it would mean a lot. It would mean a lot to the organization, everyone who’s put time and effort into this organization to make it what it is. It’s a special place, special fans, special atmosphere. We have players who have worked really hard, and it would be really important to them,” Nix said to my question on the significance of Sunday. “So it goes without saying. It’s a really important thing. It’s a really important opportunity. We just have to finish. We have to finish the task at hand. It’s right there in front of us. We just have to go take it.”
Nix tried twice this season to do just that. He delivered a defining drive at Kansas City and with his 25-yard “Do You Believe in Mims-icals?” touchdown to Marvin against the Bengals. Both set up the Broncos to pull off unthinkable upsets, only to be foiled by a blocked field goal and Payton’s lack of courage.
But the results cannot change what we have watched this season. Nix is on time and on target frequently, and with two touchdown passes against the Chiefs, he will have the most in a season, um, since Manning in 2014. Nix has shown he can meet the moment.
Be honest, you thought this team would win in spite of him after the first four games. Now, it’s the other way around.
Win Sunday, and Nix becomes the first rookie quarterback to lead the Broncos into the playoffs since Elway in 1983. In case you were wondering, Elway posted a 4-6 record that season with seven touchdowns and 14 interceptions. Nix does not have Elway’s hardware, but he has the software to be a top-10 NFL quarterback.
And he’s already showing sprinkles of Elway’s fourth-quarter pixie dust.
“He’s constantly showed up when we needed a big drive or something at the end of the half or a play,” Payton said. “If you really track his career, it’s littered with those moments.”
Nix checks the boxes even as Broncos Country cannot avoid the temptation to check its pulse. Too many people on social media continue to flood my timeline about the greatness of Wentz.
That’s the kind of thinking that comes from eight years of misery, and Nix does not have time for that. Frankly, neither do his teammates.
“We gotta win the game. Simple,” said receiver Courtland Sutton, treating the Chiefs like nameless, faceless jerseys, not a battery of reserves. “People say it is never black and white. It is black and white. We have to win the game.”
You learn more from losses than wins. And the Broncos have taken two L’s against the Chargers and Bengals that feel like tattoos on their chest. But it has not affected their belief. Externally, panic creeps in because that’s what it’s like being a fan: irrational joy and a first-name relationship with worst-case scenarios.
You really think Nix can’t handle this? Against Carson Wentz?
For those who feel compelled to email me about Wentz thrashing the Broncos when he starred for the Eagles, that was seven years and three teams ago. Wentz is known for three things: losing the Eagles locker room to Nick Foles as Philadelphia won a Super Bowl, becoming a serviceable NFL backup and looking like a dead ringer for Prince Harry.
He is a functional backup, the type of player who on any given Sunday, blah, blah, blah. But his record reveals the truth. He is 3-7 in his last 10 starts dating to the end of the 2022 season. Could the Broncos fall to Wentz and The Bench? Of course. But when have the Broncos failed against a quarterback they should have beaten this season?
Their losses are to Pro Bowler Geno Smith, former first-round pick Justin Fields, reigning MVP Lamar Jackson, possibly the greatest ever in Patrick Mahomes, top-10 quarterback Justin Herbert twice, and Joe Burrow, who is on an all-time heater.
After dealing with adversity in college and during his first year in the NFL, Nix has figured out how to be a quarterback and live a balanced life. This game means everything. But it is not the only thing. And that perspective is why he will succeed Sunday, delivering the team’s biggest win since, all together now, the Broncos were led by Peyton Manning.
“There’s no pressure without opportunity,” Nix said. “Right now, that means we have a great opportunity to go do something special.”
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