Lutz reveals possible critical error that led to Broncos’ pivotal missed FG

DENVER — Wil Lutz thinks the Denver Broncos may have lined up a yard short on the field goal that could have tied the AFC Championship Game.

“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.”

That guy was Leonard Taylor III, a practice squad elevation at defensive tackle who got his fingertips on the 45-yard attempt with under five minutes to play. The ball still had enough on it to reach the end zone, but it sailed wide left. The Patriots ran out the clock and are headed to the Super Bowl.

“It sucks when you want to be there to help the team, and I wasn’t able to do that tonight,” Lutz said.

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’s inexperience in the snow — during a season when the Broncos played most home games with temperatures in the 60s or warmer — may have cost Denver dearly. The team 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 stings, too. Lutz falls to 2-for-7 on playoff kicks of 50-plus yards for his career. Some will point to Sean Payton’s decision to go for it on fourth-and-one in the first half rather than attempt a field goal that would have put Denver up 10-0. From that distance—between 30 and 39 yards—Lutz was 12-for-12 this season. The snow hadn’t started falling yet.

Plenty of blame will go around: Payton for the fourth-down call, Lutz for the misses, Stidham for the late interception. But a Broncos team that wasn’t prepared to play in the snow is heading home to shovel instead of flying to San Francisco for the Super Bowl.

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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