The Denver Broncos beat the Tennessee Titans in Week 1 but it was not pretty. Denver was heavily favored in the matchup after becoming NFL media's preseason darling and did not cover in a game where Tennessee did not look much worse. It was vastly different than the LA Chargers' Week 1 win over the Kansas City Chiefs.
The main culprit of the middling game for the Broncos was quarterback Bo Nix. Nix, who is entering his second season in the league, failed to live up to the preseason hype that was slapped on he and the Broncos. He completed 25 of 40 passes for 176 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions.
Numbers don't tell the entire story, however, as Nix was clearly struggling against a defense nobody was talking about two weeks ago. Nix looked like the college version of himself, not the version Sean Payton seemingly unlocked in 2024.
This version of Nix is who he really is, and Chargers fans have been shouting that from the rooftops for over 12 months.
Bo Nix looked like the quarterback Chargers fans know him to be
A surprising performance for Broncos fans was not surprising at all to Chargers fans who have expected this out of Nix all along. After all, this was the scouting report on Nix coming into the league.
Regardless of how much Payton says he loved Nix in the pre-draft process, the fact of the matter is that the Broncos got the leftovers in the deep 2024 NFL Draft. Nix was the last of the first-round quarterbacks and the Broncos just had to accept that.
Nix came into the league looking sharper than anyone expected after his up-and-down collegiate career. His age was likely a primary factor, as Nix came into the league much older (and more experienced) than the average rookie quarterback. After all, Nix is less than two full years younger than Justin Herbert despite being drafted four years later.
This gave Nix somewhat of a head start over the traditional college rookie, hence why he was able to take to NFL game speed to quickly. Now that the advantage has worn off, Nix may be coming back to reality.
This is not the start Broncos fans imagined to what was supposed to be a breakout sophomore season. And despite the win, this is not the dominant showing that Denver fans were expecting after months of hype.
But most importantly, the Bo Nix hype train is finally starting to slow down and reach a point Chargers fans knew he was at all along.