DENVER -- It was a thousand-word picture, as a beaming, 24-year-old rookie quarterback enjoyed a moment with thousands of his newest friends, almost a decade in the making.
After the Denver Broncos clinched the seventh, and final, playoff spot in the AFC with a 38-0 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday at Empower Field at Mile High, Bo Nix took a victory lap, high-fiving roaring, ecstatic fans around the stadium.
"I learned I've got to run a little more during the week because that's a long lap,'' Nix said with a wry smile. "I was a little tired at the end. The fans deserve it, and it's been a long time coming.''
A long time indeed. Sunday's win, over a Chiefs team that rested most of its front-line players with the AFC's No. 1 seed already locked up, clinched the Broncos' first postseason trip since their Super Bowl 50 win to close the 2015 season.
No player on the current roster has worn a Broncos uniform in a postseason game. Left tackle Garett Bolles, in his eighth season with the team, and wide receiver Courtland Sutton, in his seventh season in Denver, are the longest-tenured Broncos, and next Sunday's wild-card game in Buffalo against the Bills (13-4) will be the first playoff game for each of them.
"Kind of hard to put into words,'' Sutton said. "To be in that situation where we get a chance to extend our season is a really cool experience. ... [Bolles] and I were able to have a little moment on the sideline. ... To see the joy and the light in his eyes ... a really good feeling to just know we have an opportunity to extend our season, to do something special and to get this organization back on track to what it's known for.
"We've been through the ugly, and to be able to see the other side of it ... man, it's really dope.''
Because the Cincinnati Bengals (9-8) defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday, the Broncos (10-7) knew before kickoff they were in a win-or-stay-home situation Sunday. They lost to the Bengals in Cincinnati last week and so would have lost a playoff tiebreaker if both teams had finished the season at 9-8.
But the Broncos showed no tension as they jumped out early to end a playoff drought of 3,255 days since the Super Bowl 50 win over the Carolina Panthers. They scored on each of their four possessions in the first half -- three touchdowns and a field goal -- and led the overwhelmed Chiefs reserves 24-0 at halftime.
Nix set a franchise record by completing his first 18 passes of the game, and his four touchdowns gave him 29 for the season, second in NFL history only to Justin Herbert's 31 in 2020 for a rookie quarterback.
"It's fun to do something like that ... just kind of a great story,'' Nix said of his stadium lap. "And our goal wasn't just to make the playoffs even though it hasn't been done in a while; it's for a lot more than that. We're excited for the opportunity.
"You don't have to be what people say you're going to be,'' Nix added about the tepid preseason expectations the Broncos received from some. "This is when it gets fun.''
Nix finished 26-of-29 passing for 321 yards and the four touchdowns. He was not sacked and did not throw an interception. Broncos coach Sean Payton made Nix the sixth quarterback selected in the first round of the April draft, and Nix was the first Broncos rookie QB to start the season opener since Hall of Famer John Elway in 1983.
"To see a young guy have so much drive and passion for the game, it makes everyone around you better,'' Sutton said. "For your quarterback to be the guy that has that energy, has that juice ... it makes everybody else in the entire building better, and he's that guy.''
The Broncos' defense limited the Chiefs' offense without stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce to 98 net yards, and Kansas City ran just 33 plays in the game. Carson Wentz was 10-of-17 passing for 98 yards and was sacked four times as the Broncos added to their league-leading sack total with five in the game.
Two of the Chiefs' nine possessions went into Broncos territory and Kansas City did not advance past the Denver 33-yard in the game. The Chiefs' lone, best chance to score went wide left when Harrison Butker, who had not missed in his previous 18 field goal attempts in Denver, missed a 51-yarder in the second quarter.
"Thought the players did a good job focusing on the things they could control,'' Payton said. "Tune out who might be playing, who might not be playing.''
And on the team's return to the postseason in his second year as coach, Payton added: "Young and hungry can sometimes be pretty dangerous.''
Nix said the Broncos' elation will be short-lived, as they will get back to business Monday.
"Coach emphasized we have to trust and believe what he already believes and knows, that we could be a playoff team,'' Nix said. "Eventually the buy-in, we figured it out ... the guys in the locker room know it, they just complete.''