The high of beating the Buffalo Bills in the Divisional Round for the Denver Broncos was unlike anything since winning the Super Bowl back in 2015. The Broncos got the best of the Bills in a back-and-forth slugfest that needed to be decided in overtime. In that game, Bo Nix, frankly, took over and was nearly unstoppable.
Nix led the team in rushing yards and picked apart the Bills' secondary at times. Nix actually hit Marvin Mims Jr in the end zone for what was a go-ahead score late in the fourth quarter. Matt Prater then tied the game at 30 thanks to a 50-yard field goal, and that's how the two teams ended up in overtime.
But shortly after Wil Lutz' game-winning kick, the Broncos got dealt a huge blow when Sean Payton announced to the world that Nix suffered a broken ankle and would quickly have surgery a few days later. From the highest high to the lowest low, it felt like Denver's season ended right there.
During the Super Bowl media frenzy, Patrick Surtain II and Nik Bonitto sat down with Kay Adams and were asked about playing in the AFC Championship Game without Bo Nix, and Surtain said what we've all been screaming about if Nix was playing in that game.
Patrick Surtain II just said what every Broncos fan has been screaming about Bo Nix
Sure, Nix wasn't able to play and the Broncos lost, but there isn't a doubt in any Broncos' fans minds that the team would have beaten the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game had Nix played:
Would the #Broncos have won the AFC Championship if Bo Nix played?
— Zack Kelberman (@KelbermanNFL) February 4, 2026
Pat Surtain II: “Yeah, yeah. No doubt.”
(via @heykayadams)
pic.twitter.com/54M0VWpHsG
We obviously can't go back in time and make it so the injury never happened. Broncos Country and the team itself simply have to move on and look to run it back in 2026.
However, seeing how the AFC title game went down made that loss extra heartbreaking, as there were some avoidable mistakes that Jarrett Stidham made in the game that very likely would not have been made by Bo Nix.
The Patriots scored just 10 points, and their lone touchdown came on a Jarrett Stidham incompletion that was then ruled a backwards pass and a recovered fumble. Nix's mobility would have been the deciding factor in this game, as Stidham just did not have the athleticism to make Patriots' defenders miss.
No one is more devastated, though, than Nix himself. With this injury, Nix should only be more motivated to return better than ever in 2026, as the Broncos were quite close at a Super Bowl berth in year two of the Nix era.
With as close as the Broncos got, the front office should kick this coming offseason into high gear and seek out significant roster upgrades at wide receiver, running back, and inside linebacker above anything else.
With a healthy Bo Nix returning in 2026, an upgraded roster, and more motivation than ever, the Broncos may have, once again, a clear path to the AFC Championship Game and a chance to reverse 2025's result and make the Super Bowl in 2026.