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Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix suffered a shocking, season-ending ankle injury moments before his team defeated the Buffalo Bills in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs on Saturday, January 17.
“Not good news … Bo fractured a bone in his right ankle,” Broncos head coach Sean Payton told reporters after the game. “He’s scheduled to have surgery Tuesday of this week to put him out for the rest of the season.”
Payton, 62, subsequently clarified that Nix, 25, will have surgery in Birmingham, Alabama. He also confirmed that backup QB Jarrett Stidham will step in for the AFC Championship game next week. (This will be Stidham’s first start of the season.)
It has been reported that the injury occurred with just over 6 minutes left on the clock in overtime when Nix, 25, was tackled for a two yard loss. Nix continued playing in the overtime period after the injury and led the Broncos to a 33-30 win over the Bills.
Per Fox News, Payton opened up to the media in the postgame press conference about Nix’s mindset following the devastating career setback.
“I’ll tell you what, the one thing about it. He’s such a strong, faith-based guy,” Payton declared. “He was sitting in the hallway with his family, and I went over, and we’re all talking to him. He knows that God has a plan for him. He said he had one in high school, and then he said he had one at Auburn. I said, ‘I didn’t realize that.’ I [jokingly] said, ‘If I would have known that, I wouldn’t have drafted you.’”
The coach went on, “He’s a tough cookie. I said, ‘Listen. I believe you’re the second quarterback in Year 2 to take your team to a Championship game, and the first is [Chiefs quarterback Patrick] Mahomes. This team, all year, has lost key players, and we’ll rise up for the next challenge and we’ll go from there.”
Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills congratulates Bo Nix of the Denver Broncos. Justin Edmonds/Getty Images
Payton promised that “Stiddy’s ready to go” as the Bills now look ahead to the prospect of trying to bring home the AFC Championship without Nix in the huddle.
While Nix was noticeably limping in the final seconds of overtime, he made no mention of an injury while speaking to CBS on the sidelines after his team’s win.
“Well, we played a really good football team; they played really well tonight,” Nix said. “They gave us their best shot on a short week after a tough game last week. Hats off to them. We just found a way to win again, and our defense made stops, and I’m just proud of our guys. I’m proud of this organization, the way we compete, we fight, we’re just never out of it.”
Bo’s injury comes at a particularly pivotal time in his life, as his wife, Izzy Nix, is pregnant with the couple’s first child. (The couple announced in October 2025 that they will welcome their first child in spring 2026.)
Meanwhile, the Buffalo Bills suffered a season-ending loss to the Broncos despite Bo’s injury. Bills quarterback Josh Allen broke down in his team’s postgame press conference as he analyzed the loss.
“It’s extremely difficult,” Allen, 29, admitted while shaking his head in disappointment. “I feel like I let my teammates down tonight.”
Allen had a rough night at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colorado, as he committed four turnovers. The QB went 25-of-39 passing, or 64.1% overall, for 283 yards and rushed for 66 yards as the Bills went down in defeat. (Bills running back James Cook also fumbled in the second quarter.)
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“We can’t win with five turnovers,” the QB said in the postgame media scrum. “Fumbled twice, threw two [interceptions]. When you shoot yourself in the foot like that, you don’t deserve to win football games.”
Allen continued, “We were battle-tested all year, down two scores at halftime. Come out, sack, fumble, hold them to three [points]. We find ourselves leading that game … if one or two plays go our way, it’s a different story.”
The 2026 AFC Championship game takes place on Sunday, January 25, with CBS airing live coverage of the kickoff at 3 p.m. ET.
