DENVER — Malcom Roach had finally worked up the will to pile on all the layers necessary to walk into the cold, dark, snowy night. After sitting still at his locker for several minutes following the Broncos’ 10-7 loss in the AFC Championship Game, the hulking defensive tackle slowly stood up.
Then, he stopped.
Roach grabbed ahold of the shelf at the top of his stall and allowed it to hold him up as he dropped his head, shaking it for a moment from side to side. Then, he let out a short, thunderous yell, directed at no one in particular. It was as if he realized all over again that this special season was suddenly, painfully over.
Moments earlier, Broncos head coach Sean Payton had exited that locker room, carrying the weight of the disappointment from Roach and every other player who had peeled off their pads for the final time this season.
“You hurt,” Payton said, “for every one of those players in the locker room.”
The pain for Payton comes from the hard-earned knowledge that this stage is a brutally difficult one to reach. He has been a head coach since 2006 and has coached in four conference title games. He’s now lost three of them, and after every one of those painful defeats, the what-ifs that dart through a coach’s head rush in almost immediately. That was true Sunday night as the Broncos put together the pieces after their season finished one drive — or one kick, one call, one play, really — from the Super Bowl.
“There’s always regrets,” Payton said.
The Broncos were in it until the very end Sunday with backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham, but missed their opportunity to control the game before stormy, wintry conditions arrived and changed its complexion entirely.
“It starts snowing, it’s windy, and it makes it kind of impossible to throw the ball forward,” right tackle Mike McGlinchey said. “That’s kind of the bummer about being down before that (weather) started. That’s what happens.”
It is what Payton lamented most after the game. He steadfastly believed the Broncos would win Sunday. He drilled it into the minds of players and fans alike, telling the latter group they would have a two-week break after the conference title game to rest their vocal cords. He was intimating that a trip to the Super Bowl would offer a final chance to throw support behind Denver’s best team in a decade.
Still, he knew the Broncos would be walking a tightrope for three hours to make it happen.
“I liked, early on, I felt like most of the first half we played on their side of the field,” he said. “We didn’t score enough points offensively or capitalize on that field position.”
The Broncos had a 7-0 lead early thanks to a 52-yard pass from Stidham to Marvin Mims Jr. and a 6-yard touchdown throw to Courtland Sutton that followed two plays later. Denver was on the move again two possessions later, facing a fourth-and-1 at the New England 14-yard line midway through the second quarter. The Patriots had punted on their first four possessions and gained only one first down in that span. The proud unit coached by Vance Joseph knew the responsibility it shouldered entering a game without starting quarterback Bo Nix, and the group delivered from the very start. They sacked Drake Maye five times and limited the Patriots to only 72 yards of offense in the first half.
The group was playing so well, in Payton’s view, that a 14-point lead may have been all the margin that unit needed. So he decided to go for it.
“I just felt like, man, we had momentum,” Payton said. ” … 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.”
Payton had initially called a run against New England’s 6-1 front, which put two linebackers alongside the four down defensive linemen. Then, Denver called a timeout and changed the call. Payton called for a “slipper naked” play that pushed Stidham to the right with the ability to hit running back RJ Harvey in the flat or throw to wide receiver Lil’Jordan Humphrey as he ran a shallow dig from the other side of the formation.
The play was wrecked quickly, though, by New England’s immediate interior pressure, with defensive linemen Cory Durden and Milton Williams winning inside at the snap to push Stidham off his spot. Under duress, Stidham threw a no-chance ball to Harvey that was nearly intercepted. Turnover on downs.
“Hindsight, the initial sub (package) run thought was a better decision,” Payton said.
That failure to increase the lead felt even heavier after Stidham’s fumble in the second quarter. It was a miscue that came as the quarterback tried to hit running back Tyler Badie on a screen play, but instead was ruled to have thrown the ball backward, setting New England up at the Denver 12-yard line after it recovered. Maye scored New England’s only touchdown of the game two plays later on a 6-yard quarterback draw.
“I can’t put the ball in a position like that, so that was completely on me,” Stidham said.
The Broncos had four drives that moved at least as far as the New England 36-yard line. Those possessions produced just the one touchdown. Wil Lutz missed a 54-yard attempt near the end of the second quarter and then had a 46-yard attempt late in the fourth quarter partially blocked, preventing the Broncos from tying the game. By then, the snow had blanketed the field, and the veteran kicker said the Broncos had difficulty identifying exactly where to set up for the attempt.
“It was tough conditions to deal with and unfortunately, I wasn’t able to come through,” Lutz said. ” … Unfortunately, you couldn’t see the lines on the field and, honestly, we might have been a yard short on the snap. You can’t see the lines and the field, and you have to kind of estimate. Guy comes through and it gets blocked.”
The Broncos still had chances. Rookie punter Jeremy Crawshaw kept pinning New England deep in its own territory and Denver forced three-and-outs on back-to-back possessions in the fourth quarter. Denver started all four of its offensive possessions in the fourth quarter at its own 30-yard line or closer, but a 70-yard march to go win the game at that point felt like 70 miles.
Payton said he was “frustrated” with Denver’s inability to run the ball despite “having one of our better run plans going in.” The Broncos in the second half gained 32 net yards and picked up one first down. Stidham completed 5-of-10 passes for 10 yards after halftime. His final pass was an interception by Christian Gonzalez that came as Stidham tried to hit Mims up the sideline with one of his only down-the-field attempts of the second half.
“I just think it’s one of those times where you have to find little completions here and there, or if it’s running the ball, you just have to find something that sticks,” Stidham said. “We were trying to do our best to find that. Just weren’t able to move the ball in the second half.”
The Broncos had won their previous 12 one-score games before Sunday’s loss. Players in Denver’s locker room didn’t talk afterward about the major ingredient in those games that was missing in this one. Nix watched Sunday’s conference title game from a suite above the field, the ankle that was surgically repaired this week immobilized. Nix, wearing a retro Broncos hat and white jacket, roared his approval as Stidham threw his touchdown pass to Sutton, then consoled his fellow quarterback afterward.
“We talked in the locker room as soon as I came in,” Stidham said. “Yes, had a good little conversation, I’ll keep that private. He was supportive all week. He’s an incredible human, incredible teammate, and very lucky to have him here.”
Playing the what-if game with Nix won’t heal any pain for the Broncos. There are so many scenes from the game that can be reimagined with Nix in the QB1 role, perhaps leading a game-winning drive or another fourth-quarter comeback as he did so frequently in his second season. None of it mattered late Sunday night as players and coaches walked into the cold night, no more adrenaline to keep them warm. There was no one to blame. Players expressed gratitude for a season that came with so many memorable moments. An 11-game winning streak. The first division title in a decade. An unforgettable playoff win against the Bills one week ago. A franchise’s proud, winning tradition restored.
Still, the hurt kept bubbling to the surface. This team won’t be exactly the same next season. No team is from year to year. Even with a promising core of players returning, the Broncos will have to build something new. The Broncos believed, even until the closing minute Sunday, that this group had two more weeks to enjoy together.
“That’s what hurts the most,” defensive tackle Zach Allen said.
“It’s sickening, bro,” outside linebacker Nik Bonitto added. “To think of all we fought through this year, all the games we had to win, knowing we’re the better team, but it just didn’t work out that way.”
Payton, on the eve of the playoffs, talked about his desire to help others experience being part of a Super Bowl. He talked about the “floating” feeling that accompanies the game’s early minutes. It’s a stage he’s been trying to get back to for the last 16 years.
“That’s the thing that’s so difficult,” he said of losses in the conference championship round, “about getting that close.”
The doorstep is a cold, dark place when the door gets slammed shut.