Lutz backtracks on what went wrong with missed Broncos FG

Wil Lutz walked back postgame comments that suggested the Denver Broncos lined up incorrectly on the field goal that could have tied the AFC Championship Game, saying Monday he takes “full responsibility” for the blocked kick.

“Just to clarify, so my words aren’t taken out of context… I was absolutely gutted during my media session after the game,” Lutz wrote on Twitter. “We were lined up correctly after looking at the tape. The conditions made it tough to see the lines, but that can never be an excuse. This is on me and no one else.”

The clarification came less than 24 hours after the context was Lutz telling reporters the team may have set up a yard short on the 45-yard attempt. That kick was blocked with under five minutes to play.

“Unfortunately, you couldn’t see the lines on the field and honestly, I think we were… we might have been a yard short on the snap,” Lutz said after Denver’s 10-7 loss to the New England Patriots on Sunday. “Can’t see the lines on the field and we had to kind of estimate, and a guy comes through, and it was blocked.”

The normally reliable Lutz missed two kicks in the game. He had a chance to give the Broncos a lead just before halftime from 54 yards and pushed it right. Two brutal missed chances in a game decided by a single 23-yard field goal from Andy Borregales midway through the third quarter.

Conditions made life difficult for both kickers. A snowstorm rolled in around halftime, dumping heavy snow while single-digit temperatures and double-figure wind gusts battered Empower Field at Mile High. Borregales missed two field goals of his own. The nine-year veteran Lutz, who is from Georgia, admitted he had never kicked in conditions like it.

Lutz and the Broncos’ inexperience in the weather — during a season when the team played most home games with temperatures in the 60s or warmer — may have cost Denver dearly. The Broncos had little opportunity to practice in those conditions before facing them in the biggest game of the year.

The Broncos took advantage of a short punt to set up the potential tying kick late in the fourth quarter. Starting just outside the red zone, they managed only five yards on three plays. A 45-yard field goal felt like a tough proposition, but asking Jarrett Stidham to convert fourth-and-five felt harder after the offense had already failed on fourth-and-one earlier in the game.

So out came Lutz and the field goal unit. And you know the rest.

The miss from 54 yards at the end of the first half stings, too. Lutz falls to 2-for-7 on playoff kicks of 50-plus yards for his career.

“This has been an amazing year that ended in heartbreak for our team,” Lutz wrote. “We cannot wait to get back to work and back in front of Broncos Country.”

The @Patriots tip the field goal and hold the lead!

NEvsDEN on CBS/Paramount+
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/po1jTYFYYR

— NFL (@NFL) January 25, 2026

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