The Broncos are still searching for the “perfect porridge” with Bo Nix

Bo Nix has done plenty for the Denver Broncos. He led them to back-to-back playoff appearances, as well the AFC’s No. 1 seed and an AFC Championship Game appearance last year. Through two seasons, he gave a franchise that had spent a decade searching for a quarterback a real reason to believe again.

He has also been inconsistent. And four games into 2026, that inconsistency is the biggest problem with this team.

On a recent edition of “Dover and Cecil” on 104.3 The Fan, Josh Dover described what it’s been like to watch Nix week to week.

“One week, he does this, ‘You wanna pull your hair out because he’s doing it the wrong way,’ and then the next week, he’s as conservative as a conservative can be, and doesn’t wanna take any chances,” Dover said.

The season so far fits that description.

In the opener at Kansas City, Nix threw an interception and fumbled three times in a 31-10 loss. On Sunday in San Francisco, he swung the other way, completing just 1 of 9 passes thrown 10 or more yards downfield and passed up windows he would have attacked a year ago. Denver lost that one too, 24-14, and fell to 2-2.

Neither approach works. When Nix is reckless, he gives the ball away and puts his defense in bad spots. When he’s timid, defenses stop respecting the deep part of the field, the offense ends up behind the sticks and the slow starts keep happening.

Dover went back to a familiar comparison.

“So where’s my perfect porridge, right?” Dover said.

He has been looking for a Goldilocks answer with this team all season. This time it’s about the quarterback.

“Where’s that right temperature porridge for Bo Nix of not making a stupid throw that an eighth-grade quarterback would be benched for throwing, but also, I mean, I don’t know how other way to put this, not being scared like Julian Lewis was with the Buffaloes,” Dover said.

The Julian Lewis comparison stings. In CU’s season opener at Georgia Tech, the Buffs ran the ball 49 times and threw only 27 because the coaching staff didn’t trust their sophomore quarterback. Lewis is only 18 years old, so that caution made sense. Nix is in his third NFL season with an AFC Divisional Round win on his résumé, and he shouldn’t be playing like he’s still earning his coaches’ trust.

Dover isn’t asking Nix to reinvent himself. He wants Nix to settle into games, find a rhythm and play one way for four quarters instead of changing styles from drive to drive. That means taking the open shot when it’s there, checking down when it isn’t and not overcorrecting after every mistake.

The Chargers and Seahawks are still left in Denver’s opening six-game stretch. The Broncos have the weapons, the defense and the coaching to compete with anyone, but they also need a quarterback who’s steady from one drive to the next. If Nix can’t find that middle ground soon, Dover thinks it could be a long season in Denver.

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