Denver's dream-like season came to a disappointing, frigid end that included some regrets.
In the aftermath of an AFC Championship Game that saw the Broncos fall to the New England Patriots, 10-7, on Sunday, Denver head coach Sean Payton was forced to reflect on his second-quarter decision to eschew a short field goal in favor of an ill-fated fourth down attempt. In hindsight, with inclement weather eventually placing a premium on points, those three sure would have helped.
“There’s always regrets," Payton said afterward. "I felt like here we are fourth-and-1, we felt close enough. It’s also a call you make based on the team you’re playing and what you’re watching on the other side of the ball. There will always be second thoughts.”
The aggressive call could have been lost to the greater story of the game had the Broncos sustained their early offensive success, but with backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham facing frequent pressure and the running game failing to rip off any big gains, Denver's offense was already slowing down before halftime. After piling up 125 yards on their first four possessions, the Broncos closed the half with three drives for just 24 yards and a missed 54-yard field goal from Wil Lutz.
Making matters worse, before Lutz's attempt drifted right of the goal post in the final minute of the first half, Stidham committed a crushing mistake by fumbling away possession on a backward pass deep in Denver territory, gifting the Patriots their best scoring opportunity of the day. Two plays later, Patriots quarterback Drake Maye sprinted into the end zone for a game-tying touchdown.
“Obviously, I can’t put our team in a bad position like that," Stidham said. "I was trying to throw it away to T.B. (Broncos running back Tyler Badie). He was in the area. He just got up on me real fast, and I was trying to get rid of it. Like I said, I can’t put the ball in a position like that. That was completely on me.”
“I thought I had thrown in forward. Obviously, the replay said differently. Probably should have just eaten the sack, anyway.”
Payton conceded after the game that the turnover "was a big play."
Those difficulties fell in line with the flow of the game, a contest in which Denver grabbed an early advantage on the scoreboard and in the momentum battle and seemed poised to ride the positive wave to a 14-0 lead had they converted the aforementioned fourth-and-1. But when Stidham took the snap, rolled to his right and instantly encountered a crowd of Patriots defenders, all he could do was toss a desperate pass into traffic, resulting in a turnover on downs and a fruitless possession.
“Decisions like that. The tough ones," Payton said when asked what he'd focus on when critiquing his coaching performance. "The fourth-and-1. Frustrated. I felt like we would be able to run the ball more consistently. I thought that was going to be important. We felt like we had one of our better run plans coming in.
"I think the big thing was that first half, that first half momentum and field position didn’t yield what it needed to yield. We needed more than that.”
Payton added: “You don’t know how a game is going to unfold and then how it began to unfold. ... I felt like most of the first half we played on their side of the field. We didn’t score enough points offensively or capitalize on that field position. The turnovers hurt us, and we had our opportunities."
A conference title battle that seemed destined to come down to the final few possessions ran aground in the second half once a snowstorm engulfed Denver, reducing both offenses to glorified Pop Warner outfits and forcing each team to battle for field position and pray for special teams success. It was a stark contrast to how the first half unfolded, with each team enjoying stretches of success that sent them into halftime tied 7-7.
Instead of seeing the conflict play out over four quarters, New England's methodical opening drive in the third quarter took 9:31 off the clock, kept Denver's offense off the field just as the snowstorm was beginning to dump its contents on the stadium and gave the Patriots a three-point lead that was ultimately enough to advance to Super Bowl LX on Feb. 8 in Santa Clara, California. Stidham's brief moment in the sun -- a five-play, 59-yard drive that ended in a touchdown pass to Courtland Sutton early in the first quarter -- faded into irrelevance as quickly as snow obscured the painted lines on Empower Field at Mile High.
Lutz's final field goal attempt -- a 45-yarder in a snowy setting that could have been mistaken for the 2001 AFC Championship Game in Foxborough -- captured the torturous reality of Denver's Sunday experience. As the ball followed a low trajectory toward the clash of bodies along the line of scrimmage, it seemed to be on line for a game-tying conversion, but Patriots defensive tackle Leonard Taylor III's outstretched hand tipped the kick, redirecting it wide of the goal post.
Even when the Broncos were within range of keeping their remarkably successful season alive, the slimmest of margins held them back.
“It’s obviously an unfortunate day," Broncos offensive tackle Mike McGlinchey said. "We didn’t execute. We made mistakes before the weather turned that really flipped the game on its head. But extremely, extremely grateful for the year that we’ve had. For the team that we have, for the coaching staff that we have. Just sucks that you couldn’t get it done today.”