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Jeff Legwold, ESPN senior writer
DENVER — It was a picture for a thousand words, as a beaming 24-year-old rookie quarterback enjoyed a moment with thousands of his new friends, nearly a decade in the making.
After the Denver Broncos clinched the seventh and final AFC playoff spot with a 38-0 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday at Empower Field at Mile High, Bo Nix took a victory lap, crashing the five of them with the ecstatic and roaring fans. around the stadium.
“I learned that I have to run a little more during the week because it’s a long lap,” Nix said with a wry smile. “I was a little tired at the end. The fans deserve it and it has been a long time coming.”
A long time indeed. Sunday’s victory, over a Chiefs team that rested most of its top players with the AFC’s No. 1 seed already secured, secured the Broncos’ first postseason trip since their victory in the Super Bowl 50 to close the 2015 season.
No player on the current roster has worn a Broncos uniform in a postseason game. Left tackle Garett Bolles, in his eighth season with the team, and wide receiver Courtland Sutton, in his seventh season in Denver, are the longest-tenured Broncos, and next Sunday’s wild-card game in Buffalo against the Bills (13-4) It will be the first playoff game for each of them.
“It’s kind of hard to put into words,” Sutton said. “To be in that situation where we have the opportunity to extend our season is a really cool experience.” … [Bolles] and I was able to have a little moment on the sidelines. … Seeing the joy and the light in their eyes … it’s a really good feeling knowing that we have a chance to extend our season, to do something special and to get this organization back on track to what it’s known for.
“We’ve been through some bad stuff, and to be able to see the other side of it…man, it’s really cool.”
Because the Cincinnati Bengals (9-8) defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday, the Broncos (10-7) knew before kickoff that they were in a win-or-stay-home situation on Sunday. They lost to the Bengals in Cincinnati last week and therefore would have lost a playoff tiebreaker if both teams had finished the season 9-8.
But the Broncos showed no tension as they jumped out early to end a 3,255-day playoff drought since the Super Bowl 50 victory over the Carolina Panthers. They scored on each of their four first-half possessions (three touchdowns and a field goal) and led the overwhelmed Chiefs reserves 24-0 at halftime.
Nix set a franchise record by completing his first 18 passes of the game, and his four touchdowns gave him 29 for the season, second in NFL history only to Justin Herbert’s 31 in 2020 for a rookie quarterback.
“It’s fun to do something like that… it’s a great story,” Nix said of his return to the ballpark. “And our goal wasn’t just to make the playoffs even though we haven’t done that in a long time.” ; It is for much more than that. We are excited for the opportunity.
“You don’t have to be what people say you’re going to be,” Nix added of the lukewarm preseason expectations the Broncos received from some. “This is where it gets fun.”
Nix finished 26 of 29 passing for 321 yards and four touchdowns. He was not sacked and did not throw any interceptions. Broncos coach Sean Payton made Nix the sixth quarterback selected in the first round of April’s draft, and Nix was the first Broncos rookie quarterback to start the season opener since the inductee into the John Elway Hall of Fame in 1983.
“Seeing a young man have so much drive and passion for the game, it makes everyone around you better,” Sutton said. “Having your quarterback be the guy that has that energy, that juice… makes everyone else in the whole building better, and he’s that guy.”
The Broncos’ defense limited the Chiefs’ offense without stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce to 98 net yards, and Kansas City ran just 33 plays in the game. Carson Wentz completed 10 of 17 passes for 98 yards and was sacked four times as the Broncos added five in the game to their league-leading sack total.
Two of the Chiefs’ nine possessions entered Broncos territory and Kansas City did not advance beyond Denver’s 33-yard line in the game. The Chiefs’ only best scoring opportunity went wide left when Harrison Butker, who had not missed in his previous 18 field goal attempts in Denver, missed a 51-yarder in the second quarter.
“I thought the players did a good job of focusing on the things they could control,” Payton said. “Disconnect who might be playing and who might not.”
And of the team’s return to the postseason in his second year as coach, Payton added: “Young and hungry can be pretty dangerous sometimes.”
Nix said the Broncos’ euphoria will be short-lived as they will return to work on Monday.
“Coach emphasized that we have to trust and believe in what he already believes and knows, that we could be a playoff team,” Nix said. “Eventually, we figured it out… the guys in the locker room know it.” They just complete it.”
