Stidham: Broncos ‘left some points out there’ in championship loss

DENVER — Jarrett Stidham had one job Sunday: Don’t lose the game.

At the start of the AFC Championship Game, the backup quarterback did exactly that. He hit Marvin Mims Jr. for a 50-plus-yard strike to set up an early touchdown. He moved the ball in the first half. He gave the Broncos a chance.

But a failed fourth-and-one call and a costly turnover later, Denver’s season is over. The New England Patriots won 10-7 and are headed to Super Bowl LX. The Broncos are headed home.

With Denver leading 7-0 early in the second quarter, head coach Sean Payton faced a decision at the Patriots’ 14-yard line. A Wil Lutz field goal would have made it 10-0. A two-score cushion in a hostile environment? That’s the safe play.

Payton rolled the dice instead. He rolled Stidham out on fourth-and-one. The play was blown up immediately. Denver came away with nothing.

“I mean, I thought really that felt like the first half, we really moved the ball pretty well at times,” Stidham said. “And, you know, we were kind of moving the ball really well on that drive. And you get an opportunity fourth and one and convert, try to go up 14, if you can. I mean, that’s, you know, that’s part of it. So just didn’t, didn’t work out on that one play.

“And, you know, that’s just football.”

The Broncos go for it on 4th down and come up short 😯 pic.twitter.com/kS3Bcxqv8u

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) January 25, 2026

The Broncos never found the scoreboard again.

The decison ended up with Denver pinned deep a bit after the failed conversion. This time around Stidham tried to throw the ball away under pressure. Officials ruled it a backward pass. The Patriots recovered at the Denver 12. Drake Maye ran it in to tie the game at seven.

From there, it was a war of attrition. Snow rolled in at halftime. The Patriots ground out a 16-play, 9:31 drive to take a 10-7 lead on a 23-yard Andy Borregales field goal in the third quarter.

The Broncos needed three points to force overtime. They couldn’t get them.

Denver went three-and-out twice to start the fourth quarter. A shanked Patriots punt gave Stidham the ball at the New England 32 with seven minutes left. But the offense managed just five yards, and Lutz’s 45-yard attempt was blocked. Stidham threw an interception on the Broncos’ final drive.

He finished 17-of-31 for 133 yards, one touchdown and one pick.

Stidham didn’t point fingers at Payton’s fourth-down call. He didn’t complain about the conditions or the pressure of replacing Bo Nix in the biggest game of the franchise’s decade.

“I thought we moved the ball fairly well throughout the first half,” Stidham said. “And, yeah, we just left some points out there for whatever the reason was. And yeah, just got to look at the film, see how we can take advantage of some opportunities.”

There are no more opportunities — not this year.

The question that will linger all offseason: What if Denver had kicked the field goal? What if the Broncos had gone up 10-0 instead of staying at seven? Would three more points have been enough to survive the snowstorm?

Payton admitted after the game that he’ll have regrets. Stidham wasn’t ready to go there.

“That’s just football,” he said.

The Patriots will face the NFC champion in Super Bowl LX on Feb. 8 in Santa Clara. The Broncos will spend the next seven months wondering if Nix was healthy what would’ve happened.

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