BO NIX BREAKS ANKLE ON DESIGNED RUN, BRONCOS' SUPER BOWL HOPES HANG BY A THREAD

# Victory Turned to Agony in 2.3 Seconds Bo Nix rolled left on first and 10 from Buffalo's 36-yard line, looking to pick up easy yards in overtime of the biggest game in a decade. Cole Bishop wrapped him up after a 2-yard loss. The hit looked routine, the kind Nix had absorbed 800 times this season. But when he limped back to the huddle, Denver's Super Bowl dreams had already started fracturing. **Here's the cruel math: The second-year quarterback who led the Broncos to their first AFC Championship Game since 2015 will watch it from the sideline with a broken right ankle.** ## The Receipts Are Brutal Payton confirmed the nightmare after Denver's 33-30 overtime victory Saturday: "Not good news, on the second-to-last play in overtime, Bo fractured a bone in his right ankle." The injury occurred with 6:04 left in the extra period, just three plays before Wil Lutz's game-winning 23-yard field goal. Nix finished 26 of 46 for 279 yards and three touchdowns, becoming the first quarterback not named Patrick Mahomes or Joe Burrow to beat Josh Allen in the postseason this decade. He threw a perfect deep ball to Marvin Mims Jr. on the very next play after the injury, drawing a 30-yard pass interference flag that set up the victory. Then he took a knee to center the ball, his right foot buckling underneath him as he went down. ## The Strategic Reality Check Jarrett Stidham steps into the fire having thrown exactly four passes in 2025. The seventh-year veteran hasn't started a game since December 2023, when he went 1-1 filling in for a benched Russell Wilson. His career record as a starter: 1-3 across four games. Denver's offense was built around Nix's mobility and improvisational skills. He led six game-winning drives this season, tied Russell Wilson's NFL record with 24 victories in his first two seasons, and was the engine that made Sean Payton's system purr. Now they're asking a backup who's been a spectator to orchestrate the biggest game in franchise history. ## The Counter Argument "Stiddy's ready to go," Payton insisted, and history offers some hope. The 2017 Eagles won the Super Bowl with Nick Foles after Carson Wentz's late-season injury. Denver's defense forced four Josh Allen turnovers Saturday and ranks among the NFL's elite. Their offensive line is arguably the league's best, giving any quarterback time to operate. ## The Bottom Line Nix will have surgery Tuesday in Birmingham, Alabama, the same city where he broke his ankle at Auburn in 2021. "He had one in high school and then he said he had one at Auburn," Payton revealed. "I said if I had known that I wouldn't have drafted you." Dark humor aside, the Broncos are now two wins from their first Super Bowl since 2015 with a quarterback who's attempted 46 career passes. Championship dreams have survived stranger circumstances, but not many.