The Denver Broncos lost the AFC Championship Game to the New England Patriots, but the question is: Did the better team win?
Not if you ask Broncos star pass rusher Nik Bonitto.
The Broncos' 10-7 loss to the Patriots in the AFC Title is one of the most annoying losses the team has suffered in recent memory. The fact that Bo Nix was unable to play in the game has left everyone wondering the torturous hypothetical "what if?", and there's no immediate escape. Bonitto said after the game that the loss hurt worse knowing they were the better team.
Nik Bonitto says Broncos' loss "sickening" because they are the better team
Nik Bonitto said it’s sickening because “Knowing we’re definitely the better team.“ pic.twitter.com/eW3incCxir
— Zac Stevens (@ZacStevensDNVR) January 25, 2026
"Sickening, bro. To think all we fought through this year, all the games we had to win, knowing we definitely the better team. But it just didn't work out that way today."
- Broncos EDGE Nik Bonitto
For Patriots fans, this comment from Nik Bonitto will simply be met with "scoreboard" rebuttals, but Bonitto is right. Everyone watching the AFC Championship Game could see that even if just Bo Nix was playing, the Broncos would have clearly won the game.
The Broncos had plenty of self-inflicted wounds in the game, and the Patriots made their share of plays as well, but all it took for New England to win was:
- Bo Nix not playing
- JK Dobbins not playing
- Troy Franklin not playing
- Multiple missed kicks
- A failed 4th-down conversion
- A controversial "backward" pass that appeared to be tipped by the Patriots
- A 4th-down conversion that looked short from the aerial view
The one stat that really stands out to prove Bonitto's point is the fact that Drake Maye's 86 passing yards are the fewest for a winning quarterback in the history of the AFC Championship Game.
The bottom line is very simple: It feels like the Broncos lost this game more than it feels like the Patriots won it. Even if you have to give credit where it's due, the fact that the Broncos were so short-handed in this game and still kept it a three-point game is rather remarkable.
Even if the Broncos had been able to win the AFC Championship, the performance against New England wouldn't have inspired a ton of confidence heading into Super Bowl LX against the Seahawks, who look like a runaway freight train in a lot of ways.
But from the Broncos' perspective, you can resonate with Bonitto here. And he's probably not thinking all of these things, but the Broncos are trying to win the AFC Championship with Lil'Jordan Humphrey getting a ton of snaps and important targets. RJ Harvey and Jaleel McLaughlin averaged 2.8 yards per carry.
The Patriots didn't run a single play in Broncos territory until the "backward pass" from Jarrett Stidham. It's understandable that, even if only from the defense's perspective, the Broncos were the better team than the team that won on Sunday. The unfortunate reality in it all is that the team is onto the offseason, and the deck has to be completely reshuffled.