Every Denver Broncos player, coach, and fan was thinking the exact same thing while watching the New England Patriots get blown out by the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl LX:
That should be us...
The Broncos lost to the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game by a final score of 10-7, and the game was proof of one thing for certain: The Broncos would have won with Bo Nix. At least, that's the message everyone in Broncos Country has been preaching the last couple of weeks, and it was only confirmed with the way the Patriots played in the Super Bowl. Broncos star cornerback Pat Surtain sent a loud and clear message about the Pats' performance on his Twitter/X page without saying any words at all.
Pat Surtain II speaks for all of Broncos Country with one emoji during Patriots Super Bowl loss
🤔
— Patrick Surtain (@PatSurtainll) February 9, 2026
The "curious" emoji is perfect for what we were all experiencing in Broncos Country while watching the Patriots struggle so badly in the Super Bowl. It was reminiscent, in some ways, of the 43-8 drubbing the Broncos once took at the hands of the Legion of Boom in the Super Bowl, only this time, it was the Patriots on the other end of it.
While hate-watching wasn't good enough for Broncos Country this year, you really couldn't help but sit there and wonder how different things could have been if Bo Nix had never gotten hurt. It really feels like the Denver Broncos could have at least been more competitive than the Patriots.
Drake Maye had one of the worst playoff runs we've ever witnessed in NFL history, and that's not just hyperbole. Maye had a handful of historically bad performances with the most fumbles of any quarterback in a single playoff run (7) in league history.
Bo Nix had a brilliant performance in the Divisional Round against the Buffalo Bills, including a go-ahead touchdown late in the 4th quarter before setting up his team for a game-winning field goal in overtime.
The way Nix played this past season, you just never felt like the Broncos were out of a game, and frankly, they weren't. The only reason the Broncos weren't playing in Super Bowl 50 was because of the horrendously-timed injury to their starting quarterback, and this game amplified that.
Surtain wasn't alone in thinking about what could have been if the Broncos had gotten to the Super Bowl, and the true torture is that none of us will ever know.