Bo Nix’s late-game magic keeps saving the Broncos, and even his coach can’t explain the slow starts

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Sean Payton is as stumped as everyone else by Bo Nix's propensity to start slow and finish fast, like he did last week in leading the Denver Broncos to a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns after going three-and-out three times in the third quarter.

“Yeah, I don't have the answer," Payton said. "I look at it internally myself like, ‘All right, let’s get going.’ I’ve said this before, I’ll let you know the week we don’t want to start fast, but it’s not this week. We want to start fast.”

Nix seems as much at a loss to explain the about-faces.

"I don’t think anything changes” in the fourth quarter, Nix said. “I just think it’s opportunity, and that’s just usually how the game goes. It’s a one-score game at the end, and you have to go out there and win it.”

The Broncos (6-2), who visit the Carolina Panthers (3-4) this weekend, have scored just 26 points in the first quarter this season compared to 70 points in the fourth quarter.

They've put together four fourth-quarter comebacks this season, storming back to beat the Jaguars , Rams , Chargers and Chiefs . In three of those games, they trailed by double digits. Altogether, they've outscored those four teams 56-10 in the fourth quarter.

On Sunday, Kansas City led Denver 24-13 and the Broncos looked cooked, having gone three-and-out on all three third-quarter drives. But suddenly, Nix could do no wrong, leading Denver on a pair of touchdown drives for a 28-24 win that was secured by a goal line stand by Denver's defense.

That marked Nix's 15th career game-winning drive in the fourth quarter or overtime, more than any other quarterback in his first three NFL seasons.

“I’ve always felt like I’ve wanted to feel like a clutch player,” Nix said. “It’s an important quality as a player when everybody’s looking at you and the pressure’s on. I don’t think you do it individually. If you look at our team in the last three years, WE have had 15 game-winning drives."

Wide receiver Courtland Sutton said Nix exudes confidence when it comes down to the end and Denver needs another comeback.

“I think that the more times you get thrown into a situation, the more you’re able to overcome said situation," Sutton said. “It’s like a math problem. The more times you see a math problem, it becomes easier for you to solve that problem when you see it again.

“I think there’s never a game we feel like we’re out of," Sutton added.

Sutton said he'd much rather coast in the fourth quarter than have to come back all the time, but cushions have been few and far between for the Broncos lately.

Of the Broncos' 20 regular-season wins since the start of 2025, only four have been by more than one score. Every other game has come down to the end, and the Broncos, who were 11-2 in one-score games in 2025, are 5-0 in such games this year.

“You don’t want to be in those situations,” Sutton said, “but when you do have to overcome those situations, having that trump card in your back pocket of saying, ‘We’ve been here before. We know how to win these games. Let’s just go out here and do it,’ I think that that allows us all to play confident and fast.”

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