Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton won his first Super Bowl as a HC in 2009 with the New Orleans Saints, and he was this close to doing it again last season, until everyone knows what happened...star quarterback Bo Nix got injured in the divisional round!

It was a heartbreak that rippled through the entire Broncos fanbase. But Seth Wickersham of ESPN had behind-the-scenes access to Payton's reaction when Beau Lowery, the Vice President of Player Health and Performance, revealed the unfortunate news.

"Everyone in the office looks nauseous. The thumping and cheering seem to fade. The room's dimensions seem to shift, at once spinning and still. Payton stares at the floor, eyes dead, head slowly nodding. 'Stiddy,' he [Payton] says," Wickersham wrote on ESPN.

“Stiddy”, a nod to backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham, captured how fast Payton went from devastation to triage. 

"Deep down, Payton knows that his chances of winning a Super Bowl are over, dreams gone within minutes of advancing. No other coach in modern NFL history can relate to what's flashing through his mind right now. Lowery and Paton look at Payton, then away. The clock to the AFC Championship is already ticking," Seth Wickersham of ESPN wrote on July 7.

Stidham suited up to create history that day. He became the first quarterback to start a conference-championship game with only four career starts, none of which occurred in the 2025 season.

The last QB to do so was Dallas Cowboys Hall of Famer Roger Staubach, who had a similar start back in 1972.

However, Stidham could not save Denver, and the Broncos lost 10-7 to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game. Because of the weight of that loss, Payton was blunt, thinking back on the game. 

"Man, we missed Bo in that game," Payton said, per Wickersham. 

Nix almost single-handedly carried the Denver offense against Buffalo. He threw a critical late pass to Marvin Mims for the go-ahead touchdown with less than a minute left in the game, and Nix broke his ankle.

While the fallout from that injury defined the end of the 2025 season, the focus in Denver has quickly shifted to what lies ahead.

With a new season approaching, questions about Nix's long-term future with the franchise have naturally begun to surface. But the young QB made his intentions clear about the same.

Bo Nix wants to stay in Denver long-term

The Broncos extended general manager George Paton and HC Sean Payton's contracts to 2030, and Nix is next on the list.

"I think everyone who's in the league wants that long-term extension and wants to play for their home team. For me, I love being here. I love where I'm at. I love this team. I'll play as long as they want to have me," Nix said during minicamp media availability in June, via Jon Heath, Broncos Wire. 

Nix is entering his third NFL season, making him eligible for an extension in 2027. While the Denver Broncos will almost certainly exercise his fifth-year option to secure his rights through 2028, a long-term extension can still be negotiated and signed well before that option year kicks in.

Nix’s current contract is favorable to the Broncos. Nix’s cap hit will be over $5 million in 2026. This gives the Broncos a route to assemble a competitive, championship-caliber team without Nix's contract complicating things.

Will the Broncos lock up Bo Nix to a massive extension, or should they wait until this season is over? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

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Written by

Abhay Bharti

Edited by

Shubhi Rathore