Despite an ugly blowout loss to the Buffalo Bills in the Wild Card round, it’s impossible to view the Denver Broncos’ season as anything but a rousing success. Rookie passer Bo Nix proved to be the franchise quarterback Denver had been searching for since Peyton Manning retired and the team reached the postseason for the first time since 2015.

The fact that Denver closed out the regular season with a 5-2 record and clinched the final AFC playoff berth is all the more impressive considering Nix played through a significant injury. The first-year signal caller acknowledged that he suffered “a transverse process fracture in my back,” according to 9News Denver.

Nix sustained the injury, which involves broken “bone wings on the side of the vertebrae” in Week 12’s win over the Las Vegas Raiders. He threw for 273 yards and two touchdowns in the 29-19 victory. Nix was on the injury report ahead of Week 13’s Monday night matchup with the Cleveland Browns. But the young passer gutted out another performance with fractures in his back, racking up 294 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions in the 41-32 Broncos' win.

A broken back couldn’t stop Broncos' rookie QB Bo Nix

Jan 12, 2025; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix (10) throws downfield during the second quarter against the Buffalo Bills in an AFC wild card game at Highmark Stadium.
Mark Konezny-Imagn Images

Nix says the pain from the injury dissipated during the Broncos’ Week 14 bye. He then led Denver into the playoffs with a remarkable four-game stretch in which he threw 12 touchdowns and four interceptions.

Despite the injury, Nix appeared in all 17 games this season, completing 66.3 percent of his passes for 3,775 yards with 29 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He also added 430 rushing yards and four additional scores in a remarkable rookie campaign. While Washington Commanders’ QB Jayden Daniels will win Rookie of the Year, Nix did well to close the gap in the competition.

The Broncos’ young passer got his postseason career off to an impressive start, connecting on a long touchdown to Troy Franklin on Denver’s first possession. But that was all the scoring the team could muster against a superior Bills squad as the inexperienced Broncos lost 31-7.

Still, Nix has vowed to attack the offseason with hopes of returning to the playoffs and getting a win for Denver. After the skill and toughness he displayed during his rookie year, there’s every reason to Bolieve the Broncos will be back in the mix in 2025.