Sunday afternoon's 38-0 thumping of the visiting Kansas City Chiefs was the highlight of Bo Nix's early career and the Denver Broncos' postseason ticket.
The Broncos are in the postseason for the first time since their 2015 season, when they won the Super Bowl. Denver secured the AFC playoffs' seventh seed.
In addition to completing his first 18 passes, Nix finished 26 of 29 for the game, recording a career-high 321 yards and four touchdowns. He set a new single-game record for the Broncos by completing 89.7 percent of his throws, and he had the most consecutive completions (18) of any rookie in NFL history. Nix led the Broncos in rushing as well, with 47.
The Chiefs rested Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Isiah Pacheco, Chris Jones, Jawaan Taylor, and George Karlaftis because they had already secured the top seed in the AFC playoffs.
Courtland Sutton led the Broncos with five receptions for a team-high 98 yards and a score. Denver finished 10-7 at the end of the regular season thanks to five receptions by Marvin Mims Jr. for 51 yards and two touchdowns and four receptions by Devaughn Vele for 50 yards and a touchdown.
Denver added one sack each from Jonathan Cooper, Jordan Jackson, and John Franklin-Myers to Nik Bonitto's two. The Broncos defense limited the Chiefs (15-2) to 98 total yards and five first downs.
For Kansas City, Carson Wentz passed for 98 yards on 10 of 17 passes.
The Broncos scored a 70-yard drive on six plays to start the game. Nix faked a handoff, faked a reverse, then faked a screen pass to Mims for a 32-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead on a play-action pass play.
Following the Chiefs' three-and-out due to their defense, Nix led a 10-play, 85-yard touchdown drive. The play of the game was a 47-yard completion in which Nix lofted a deep pass to Sutton after rolling to his right.
The Broncos led 14-0 with less than five minutes remaining in the first quarter when the same pair connected for a 10-yard score two plays later.
When Nix's 10-yard ball bounced off Chiefs defensive back Keith Taylor's outstretched arm and into the arms of a diving Vele for a 3-yard touchdown with 6:46 remaining in the second quarter, the Broncos had a 21-0 lead.
The margin increased to 24-0 in the final seconds of the second quarter when Wil Lutz made a 33-yard field goal. The first half ended without a Kansas City goal for the first time in 61 games.
The Broncos led 31-0 late in the third quarter when Nix threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Mims. At 8:11, Audric Estime added a 1-yard touchdown run.
Now the Playoffs begin.
