The Broncos entered halftime going through a 10-7 deficit, however their short-lived drives on offense continued within the second half. With two three-and-outs within the third quarter and the Payments placing collectively lengthy, fruitful drives, the Broncos had six performs to indicate for coming into the ultimate body. That compelled Denver to go for it on fourth-and-long on their solely red-zone possession of the sport within the fourth quarter, down 21-7, and after forcing a cease, the Payments proceeded to take almost seven minutes off the clock on the following possession to make it a three-score recreation and basically ice the end result.

“We acquired beat at present and, particularly within the postseason, that is at all times a bitter tablet to swallow,” Payton mentioned. “And but, it is going to go down, and it is acquired to gasoline you and light-weight a hearth within the path we have to go. One of many issues we discovered early on is we acquired to discover a technique to play these video games at dwelling. That is one other factor that is vital.”

Nix completed 13-of-22 passing for 144 yards and a TD with no turnovers and led this staff with 43 speeding yards, manufacturing usually derived from damaged performs influenced by the Payments’ go rush. Whereas his errors have been restricted, Nix could not get the Broncos transferring constantly together with his arm, and it made for a protracted day because the offense watched a lot of the one-sided affair from the sideline.

Nonetheless, the Broncos can maintain their heads excessive understanding they’ve a younger QB to construct off, and enhancing on the muse laid in 2024 begins now.

“It is loads to develop from, loads to construct from,” Nix mentioned. “I am excited to be right here right now as a result of our trajectory goes up. I am excited for lots of issues now we have out in entrance of us. Now we have loads to stay up for that I am pumped about.”