“Careful.”
Bo Nix walked back to the Broncos’ sideline early Saturday evening having centered the football between the hashmarks to set up the game-winning Wil Lutz field goal that would send the Denver Broncos to their first AFC Championship Game appearance in a decade.
But he did so in pain, wincing along the way, and when Sean Payton met his quarterback to celebrate the drive that brought them one step closer to a world championship, a joyful gesture brought the first indication to the coach that something was terribly wrong.
“As he comes over [to the sideline], I kind of chest-bump him, jab him, like, ‘Fricking A.’ And he’s like, ‘Careful,’” Payton recalled Sunday morning.
The conversation went thusly, as Payton recalled.
“You all right?” Payton asked Nix.
“Yeah,” replied the second-year passer. “But man, it’s hurting.”
“What do you got?”
“My ankle.”
“All right. You’ll be fine.”
“And I tapped him in the chest again,” Payton continued as he shared the conversation with Denver-area media. “I said, ‘Just enjoy this field goal.’”
What Payton didn’t know then was that in under an hour, the unfettered joy would turn to sorrow, and the Broncos’ biggest triumph since Super Bowl 50 would be bittersweet.
IN THE BOWELS OF THE STADIUM, PAYTON LEARNED THE BAD NEWS REGARDING NIX’S INJURY
Lutz drilled the kick — his fourth walk-off field goal of the season — and the Broncos rejoiced, eventually returning to their locker room to celebrate surviving for another round.
“And I came and did the presser with you all. When I came back from that press conference, Beau (Lowery), our medical trainer, George (Paton), there was a group in my office and I knew — they didn’t say anything, but I knew there was something,” Payton said.
“We always meet after the game and discuss injuries, but that was early. And they said, ‘Look, there’s a fracture.’ Showed me the x-ray.”
Payton’s first act was to find Nix.
“Immediately I walked down the hall. Bo was kind of sitting outside the locker room, leaning up against the wall,” Payton said. “His wife, his parents, his family there, I think ‘Stiddy’ [Jarrett Stidham], a few others. And I just asked him how he was doing, ‘Are you hanging in there?’
“And I said to you guys last night, this is a strong-minded individual. Obviously it was disappointing right at that moment to get to this point.”
The Broncos remain close to their dream and their goal, a place Payton told them was a realistic destination back in training camp.
But Nix’s dreams of running onto the field for a Super Bowl will be delayed. Now, he will be a spectator. And any success going forward will be tinged with a tear for the quarterback whose poise in the clutch was indispensable in allowing them to reach this point.
