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Broncos Fans Look Forward to Future After Playoffs Beatdown by Bills

Good start, painful finish. But for the first time in a while, the Broncos faithful actually believe in the future.
Image: Denver Broncos fans walk into game
Despite being blown out by the Buffalo Bills, 31-7, in the first round of the NFL playoffs, most Broncos fans are still optimistic about next season. Evan Semón
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After the Denver Broncos eviscerated the Kansas City Chiefs' backups last weekend to qualify for their first post-season appearance since 2016, pundits nationwide gave the squad approximately no chance whatsoever to best the Buffalo Bills, their Wild Card round opponent. The only folks who disagreed tended to be citizens of Broncos Country, who insisted that a path to victory was a genuine possibility rather than a punch-drunk delusion.

Nope. Denver fell to Buffalo, 31-7, on January 12 in a contest that resoundingly confirmed suspicions of experts outside Colorado. But rather than reacting with rage, most Broncos boosters on social media focused on what they see as a sunny future as opposed to bitching about the ugly way the 2024-2025 campaign ended.

The first two minutes and 24 seconds of the game offered head coach Sean Payton and his cadre of playoffs plebes reasons for optimism. Sure, the first two running plays were typical, in that they resulted in a net gain of two yards — plus five for Javonte Williams, minus three for Jaleel McLaughlin. But rookie quarterback Bo Nix, who's played well enough of late that Payton no longer needs to act as his press secretary, converted the subsequent third-and-long by way of a nineteen-yard strike to primary pass-catcher Courtland Sutton. Then, after another six-yard pick-up by Williams, Nix heaved the ball about as far as he could, and damn it if the pigskin didn't land in the arms of Troy Franklin en route to the end zone for 43 yards.

The resulting lead stood up through the next possession, with Denver's defenders forcing the Bills into a Tyler Bass field goal. But the seeds of the Broncos' eventual destruction began sprouting early on.

For Denver to have a chance at defeating Buffalo, the D could not allow Bills field general Josh Allen to run wild...but he did. Whenever ground-game specialist James Cook wasn't gashing the Broncos for sizable gains (he wound up with 120 yards on 23 carries), Allen was allowed to survey the field in front of him unmolested for far too long. Thanks to the protection Allen was afforded, he was able to complete twenty of 26 throws for 272 yards — and although he was sacked twice over the course of the afternoon, he also scrambled for another 46 yards, and could have gone for much more had the situation required it. Which it didn't.

Even after the Bills took a 10-7 lead on the strength of a Cook touchdown that ate up well over seven minutes (Buffalo's time-of-possession advantage was enormous), the Broncos still had hope. After a wacky fourth-down completion by punter Riley Dixon, Nix maneuvered his squad into scoring territory with five ticks left before intermission. But then kicker Wil Lutz, who repeatedly failed to split the uprights during a Denver win in Buffalo last season, doinked a field-goal attempt off the right post that would have lifted the Broncos into a 10-10 tie at the half.

That's more or less where the good news ended for Denver.

Buffalo's opening third-quarter drive again resulted in a Bass field goal. But the Broncos offense gained four yards on its next two efforts combined, while Allen netted two touchdowns — the first on a crazy catch by Ty Johnson, the second via a scorcher to Curtis Samuel that left the Broncos' secondary looking like orange highway cones. A two-point conversion raised the score to a 28-7 advantage that was clearly insurmountable. The Bills wound up adding another three points out of sheer boredom.

A nail-biter, it wasn't. But given that Sports Illustrated had predicted Denver would win just five games out of a possible seventeen in 2024-2025, doubling that tally to finish 10-7 and earn a playoffs berth left even those who scoff at moral victories feeling upbeat. There's no telling if Nix will continue to improve in his second season at the helm or if Denver will be able to improve its moribund running attack enough to successfully compete against the likes of the Bills and the Chiefs. But for the first time in a while, the Broncos faithful actually believe it could be in the cards.

See what we mean by counting down the twenty (mostly) positive takes shared on X after the final whistle blew.

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