The Broncos and quarterback Bo Nix won on Sunday, but it wasn’t pretty.
Nix completed 12 of 25 passes for 60 yards on Sunday, a shocking lack of production the likes of which the NFL has never seen: No quarterback in NFL history had ever thrown for so few yards while throwing at least 25 passes and completing at least 12 of them.
It’s a stretch to find even a similar game in NFL history to Nix’s, in which his team managed to win despite his putrid passing. Rick Neuheisel completed 12 passes for 66 yards and won a 1987 strike game. That was the fewest yards on 12 or more completions for a winning QB in NFL history until Nix won while throwing for six fewer yards yesterday.
In NFL history, there have been 39 games in which a quarterback averaged 2.5 yards per pass or fewer while throwing at least 25 passes. After Nix’s win on Sunday, those quarterbacks are now 3-36 in those games. The two previous quarterbacks to win while throwing at least 25 passes and averaging 2.5 yards per pass or worse were both in the AFL and both in 1963: John McCormick of the Broncos and Cotton Davidson of the Raiders.
To Nix’s credit, he didn’t throw any interceptions, didn’t fumble and didn’t take a sack. That helped the Broncos find a way to win. But they aren’t going to win many games with Nix totaling 60 passing yards.
