DENVER — Super Bo or bust. Just went boom.

Dream, deferred. Rings on layaway.

An awkward silence fell over the media room Saturday night as Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton returned for a second press conference just minutes after his first. Somehow, the Broncos’ biggest win in a decade became hollow as Payton announced that Bo Nix broke a bone in his right ankle in overtime.

His season is over. Nix huddled with his family, trying to make sense of the diagnosis of a fracture from a run in overtime, while taking comfort in his faith.

Man, what did the Broncos do to deserve this? We felt like all year, something was going to go wrong this season. Call it karma. Call it an awful hunch.

But this was just cruel, like telling an 8-year-old that Christmas was canceled or that the Easter Bunny tore his ACL.

Nix, backed by a ferocious defense, guided the Broncos to a 33-30 overtime victory over the Buffalo Bills. He mocked fate, shoving the Broncos, no longer America’s Favorite Fraud, into the AFC Championship Game.

It was never over with this team. But it feels over now.

Nix has shown he can come back from anything — 15 points down in Philadelphia, 19 points in the hole against the Giants, trailing by four late versus the Bills — but he is not returning from surgery Tuesday in Birmingham, Ala. Not in eight days.

This is not air siphoning from a balloon. This is oxygen leaving the room. Specifically, the locker room.

Everyone will say the right things, that it is next man up. But those are just words when you are replacing a quarterback who played like an All-Pro in the fourth quarter and overtime again in the biggest game of his career and leads the NFL in game-winning drives.

Jarrett Stidham, you’ve got next.

You got this?

“I would say in fairness that what you have seen from him is very limited,” Payton explained. “But, he is ready.”

Stidham has been preparing as if he would play for two seasons. He delivered the best training camp of his career last summer, showing stunning accuracy in practice and preseason games.

But no one remembers those things. They don’t count. And when the season started, and Nix, after a clunky September, took flight, no one even mentioned Stidham’s name.

Anonymity became his friend, save for making news by staying in Denver and joining the Broncos a few days later in London after the birth of a child.

This is what I can promise you. He takes his job seriously. You don’t survive playing for Bill Belichick or serving as Tom Brady’s backup or becoming Payton’s No. 2 without conviction.

“We had some good practices last week. It was fun,” Stidham told me a few days ago. “We got after it. You always have to be ready to go.”

He has the right attitude. But this is nothing like the challenge he encountered in 2023.

Remember when Payton benched Wilson in favor of Stidham to give the Broncos a “spark?” It didn’t work. Stidham wasn’t very good. And the only consolation in watching him is that we never had to see Wilson again.

And yet, his teammates believe in him. He is a pro’s pro, as they say.

He knew as soon as anybody that Nix was done. They are close friends.

But the fans were not prepared for their mood to shift from elation to dejection as it did outside the stadium. My phone became a flurry of texts. At 6:17 p.m., Nix walked into the tunnel leading into the locker room with 12 photographers surrounding him. He raised his hands triumphantly, bathing in the roar.

Roughly an hour later, the magic carpet ride was over, crashing into the turf, traced to a quarterback keeper with six minutes remaining in overtime when he was tackled awkwardly.

“No way!” said former Broncos running back C.J. Anderson. “Really? It’s true.”

He was one of many ex-Denver players struggling to reconcile such a bittersweet game.

Nix delivered, completing 11 of 16 passes for 104 yards and a touchdown in the fourth quarter and overtime. His rainbow to Marvin Mims Jr. to put the Broncos ahead 30-27 in regulation will be talked about in these parts long after he is retired.

This was the outcome that the city wanted, what long-suffering fans were hoping for. Nix made sure the Broncos did not suffer the worst indignity, allowing playoff road teams to improve to 2-85 when finishing minus-3 in the turnover battle.

The Broncos won for the 15th time in 18 games. And they are 15-3 at home under Nix in his career.

And now this? He is gone? When does something like this happen?

And when does it happen when we don’t even know it occurred? Nix conducted an off-field postgame interview with CBS’ Tracy Wolfson, never hinting at the injury.

“We played a really good football team that gave us their best shot on a short week. But, we found a way to win again. Our defense made stops. I am so proud of our guys,” Nix said. “I am so proud our organization, proud of the way we compete and fight.”

Nix is the first second-year quarterback to lead his team to the conference title game since future Hall of Famer Patrick Mahomes.

He deserves a thank you. Full appreciation. But this cannot be the ending, right?

The Broncos must not go down without throwing haymakers.

They will play either the Texans or the Patriots. Neither will be confused with the 1970s Steelers. These teams are flawed, just like Denver. Drake Maye, an MVP candidate, saw ghosts last week. And C.J. Stroud looked like he coated his hands in Crisco before playing the Steelers.

OK. It is a reach.

It is just hard to reconcile that the erasing of 10 years of bad memories lasted only about 70 minutes. It is akin to chasing a shot with motor oil.

It’s OK to be furious. To feel jilted. Or robbed.

We all knew the Broncos could lose because they played every game close. But we never thought it would be after a win.

Broncos Country was starting to think maybe, just maybe, its future would hold a parade. Now the state, if not region, is in a daze.

The Broncos cannot go out this way. Stidham — rhymes with numb — can’t let them, can he?

It can’t end. Not like this.

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