Bo Nix is 28-12 through his first 40 NFL starts, more victories than John Elway and Peyton Manning had over that same stretch. Among active quarterbacks, only Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson had better records at this point in their careers. There's just one problem: Nix is directing one of the NFL's least productive offenses, and his individual numbers are getting worse.
So what exactly should we make of all that success? Thursday night's 17-14 overtime victory against Seattle might have been the most extreme example yet. Denver managed 168 yards of offense, averaged 2.9 yards per play and gained a grand total of 38 yards on 25 plays after halftime.
Nix finished with 107 passing yards, averaging exactly four yards per attempt. Former NFL quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick wasn't nearly as forgiving. During Amazon's postgame show, he ripped Nix's performance, saying, "He's not playing competitive football right now," and later calling it "almost disrespectful to the quarterback position." So, yeah … the Broncos improved to 4-2 and extended their streak of one-score victories to 14 games.
Their defense dominated for long stretches, forcing turnovers and capitalizing on Seattle's mistakes. And it's not a stretch to suggest they accomplished all this in spite of, not because of Bo Nix. Denver has a defense capable of carrying this team to the Super Bowl.
But if Nix can't give the Broncos more than he has through the first six games, none of that matters. Put more bluntly: How much longer are they willing to wait for him to figure it out? It's easy to look at Nix's 2026 numbers, throw your hands up and conclude that he's suddenly fallen apart.
The third-year quarterback has undoubtedly gotten worse this season, but some of the problems have been there all along. Nix threw 29 touchdowns and 12 interceptions as a rookie in 2024 and helped Denver reach the playoffs. He followed that with another winning season, and through his first 39 starts, he'd thrown 60 touchdowns, completed 64.2% of his passes and piled up 8,648 passing yards.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
