The Bo Nix skepticism won't survive where he can lead the Broncos in 2026

Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix is one of the most polarizing players in the NFL.

For more than two years, Denver Broncos fans have been defending Nix from the scathing reviews of the football world at large. At first, there was an element of the unknown surrounding Nix's NFL future. Broncos fans were undoubtedly in the position of having to hope that picking Nix 12th overall in the 2024 NFL Draft would work out for the team, and analysts had no obligation to share that faith. And they didn't.

Now that Nix is entering his third NFL season, it's become abundantly clear that skeptics and detractors have been blatantly ignoring reality, while the faith of the fans in Broncos Country has been rewarded in a big way.

Nix has not only been better than his biggest critics said he wouldn't be, but he's been better than even the most optimistic supporters could have imagined. The frustration and tension of constantly living in a world where the biggest voices on the biggest platforms is at an all-time high, but the inaccurate views of Nix won't survive where he can take this Broncos team in 2026 (The Super Bowl).

There is a widespread problem with the NFL world's perception of Broncos QB Bo Nix

Bo Nix is the only quarterback in NFL history to throw for 7,500+ passing yards, account for 50+ touchdowns, and win 20+ games in the first two years of an NFL career.

He is one of just three quarterbacks in NFL history with at least 3,500 yards and 25 passing touchdowns in each of his first two seasons (Peyton Manning, Justin Herbert).

He is tied with Russell Wilson for the most wins (24) in the first two years of his NFL career.

He's tied with Andrew Luck for the most game-winning drives (10) in the first two years of his NFL career. And you can add an 11th for Nix, who engineered a game-winning drive against the Buffalo Bills in the Divisional Round of the playoffs last season.

And the unfortunate reality is that there is a widespread perception (belief) that Nix has been getting dragged by the rest of the team and coaching staff to all of those wins, or that he's been the primary reason the team is trailing in games that require a game-winning drive. But there are simply too many people with platforms spreading misinformation about Nix, to the point that even head coach Sean Payton (and X Community Notes) are getting involved:

The Broncos are winning because of Bo Nix, not in spite of him

Nix has been developing on a roster that was deemed one of the worst in the league when he took over as a rookie in 2024. Not only that, but the Broncos were dealing with the biggest dead cap hit in NFL history (at the time) after moving on from Russell Wilson.

So, not only was the roster perceived to be bad, but the Broncos were handcuffed in the way they could reload because of Wilson's contract.

On top of that, the Broncos' decision to hire Sean Payton (who they had to trade draft picks for) was not widely considered to be a wise move. In fact, some labeled it one of the worst moves of the entire 2023 offseason.

Entering the 2026 season, the Denver Broncos are on fraud alert for most of the NFL world. After going 11-2 in one-score games last season, most people are waiting for the clock to strike midnight on this Broncos team, but especially on Bo Nix.

Even our colleagues and friends here at FanSided believe that Nix is the single most overrated player in the NFL right now.

All of a sudden, the success Nix has had is being explained away for reasons that make you raise an eyebrow. Nix is having success with the Broncos because of Sean Payton, even though the narratives about Payton were that he was just another "Mike McCarthy", that he quit on the Saints and would eventually do the same to the Broncos, that he rode the coattails of Drew Brees, and that he has never drafted and developed a QB successfully.

Now, Payton is the reason for Nix's success?

How about the roster? Going into the 2024 season, the unanimous perspective was that the Broncos had one of the two or three worst rosters in the league. ESPN and PFF each ranked them 31st on their respective lists. With no 1st-round picks from 2022-23, that roster somehow got so astronomically better that Nix is benefitting from the talent around him?

To be fair, it's possible for two things to be true. It's possible that the Broncos' entire roster was underestimated going into that 2024 season as well as Bo Nix being underestimated and underrated.

The problem is, the roster progressing and exceeding expectations has caused the goalposts to move in an unacceptable way:

It's not a coincidence that the Broncos have been to the playoffs in back-to-back years with Bo Nix at the quarterback position. It's not a coincidence that he's happened to have the ball late in games and has put his team in position for 11 game-winning drives (including the playoffs), and actually put his team in position for even more than that, but the Broncos blew a game-winning field goal attempt in his first trip to Kansas City. They also gave the Colts a mulligan in a game early last season on a game-ending field goal attempt.

Bo Nix is being treated by many in the national media (and the football world at large) like he's the second-coming of Tim Tebow.

The harsh reality is, nobody wants to admit they were wrong about Nix coming out of Oregon. Most people felt like he was a Day 2 pick at best, so when the Broncos picked him 12th overall, it was only because they were panicking after seeing 5 other QBs fly off the board in the top 10 picks of the 2024 NFL Draft.

Ever since Nix was drafted, folks who had made up their minds about him before the draft have been waiting for any confirmation they can get that they were right, and that the Broncos were wrong. Sean Payton's act of pure hubris simply cannot be validated by admitting that Nix is already far better than any NFL Draft expert believed he could be.

The problem is, the goalposts keep on moving.

There is no way Bo Nix can lead the Broncos to an AFC West title with Patrick Mahomes in the division.

He did that in two years.

Nix has done more than that. He's gone head-to-head, toe-to-toe with the top quarterbacks in the NFL. And while he hasn't won every battle, he's proven he can lead his team to victory against some of the best quarterbacks in the league.

After leading the Broncos to the #1 seed in the AFC and the Conference Championship Game last year, you would think both the team and Nix himself would have earned more respect than they've been getting. But that's not the case. And the disrespect has gone beyond the generic doubt of a team (and player), and has extended into pushing narratives based on blatant lies, or disregard for reality.

Nix has proven he can lead the Broncos to their 4th Super Bowl in franchise history. The question (not that Nix cares) is -- what will people say about him if (or when ) that actually happens?

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