DENVER — Eight months since he joined the Broncos, there is nothing Bo Nix cannot fix.

After producing a winning record and a playoff berth, Nix burst the thought bubble hanging over the franchise’s head since the 2018 draft.

Should the Broncos have selected Wyoming star quarterback Josh Allen instead of defensive end Bradley Chubb? Six years later, Nix has exorcised those demons. Broncos fans no longer thirst for Allen or live in a world of 20-20 hindsight vision.

What is easier to believe: that Nix or Allen will win a Super Bowl first? It should be Allen. It is not a certainty. He has reached one conference championship in his first six seasons. Could Nix, with a better head coach, catch and pass him?

It is not as crazy as it sounds, and even the suggestion is soothing, explaining how important Nix has become for Denver.

As the Broncos prepare to face Allen, they have their guy. Nix is the first rookie to post four games with at least three touchdowns and 75 percent completions. No Broncos quarterback has logged stats like this since the salad days of Peyton Manning.

Since 2016, the Broncos have had seven different Week 1 starters in nine seasons. Nix pulled the emergency brake on the carousel, stopping the wandering eye of the team and its fans.

Nix has made it possible to forget — or at least tuck away on a zip drive — the worst pass in John Elway’s career. As general manager he liked Allen, but he boxed himself in by giving Case Keenum a two-year contract before the draft. And it was an open secret that if Elway took a quarterback, he wanted USC’s Sam Darnold, having cooled on Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield.

With Darnold and Saquon Barkley off the board — the running back was Denver’s highest-graded player — Elway returned to the defensive strategy that won Super Bowl 50, adding a disruptive edge player in Chubb. So sold the Broncos were on Chubb, Elway rebuffed a trade proposal from the Bills, who offered the 12th, 22nd and 53rd picks to move up for Allen. Buffalo found a taker in Tampa Bay to get the quarterback seventh overall.

As Chubb’s career became defined by injuries, this move became a gnawing pain for Broncos Country, if not Elway. He expressed regret this spring over the decision.

“That was probably my biggest mistake of my GM days, not taking Josh,” Elway said on the “Pardon My Take” podcast.

But let’s be fair. It was not like there was a groundswell from fans to select Allen, beyond Wyoming boosters.

History has simplified this story into a single blunder, choosing one player over another. Truth is, it was layered because of Keenum, because of Paxton Lynch’s recent failure, because Darnold was preferred over Allen. Even if the Broncos had selected Allen, who made it clear he wanted to be a Bronco during the pre-draft process, I am not convinced he could have overcome Elway’s impatience and Denver’s coaching dysfunction.

Would Allen have progressed under Bill Musgrave, Rich Scangarello or Pat Shurmur — the Broncos offensive coordinators in 2018-2020 — like he did under Brian Daboll? No chance. Would he have become Captain America and the MVP favorite player we see now? Nope.

After embarrassing the Broncos in 2020, Allen admitted that Buffalo “is where I am supposed to be.” I believe that. He was destined to be the next Jim Kelly, not John Elway.

Likewise, Nix is the fit in Denver. The beauty of this season is that there is no reason to play what if? Not anymore. Allen trumps Nix. We get it.

But Nix is the maestro of Sean Payton’s offense. While Pat Surtain II is the Broncos’ best player, Nix is the face of the franchise. He impresses teammates with his work ethic, while blending humility with confidence. The Broncos reached the postseason with limited offensive weapons and $91 million in dead cap money.

Not only will Nix get better, but he is way ahead of where Allen was as a rookie. While he lacks Allen’s size and arm strength, Nix has exceeded expectations. He throws harder than we thought, runs faster than we witnessed in college and, after a clumsy start to his career, bows to few quarterbacks statistically, even Allen.

Over his last 13 games, Nix boasts 31 touchdowns (28 passing, two rushing, one receiving), eight interceptions and a 68.3 completion percentage. During this same stretch Allen has accounted for 31 touchdowns (21 passing, 10 rushing), six picks and a 62 completion percentage.

Rather than put a Band-Aid on a bullet hole, the Broncos confronted a serious problem with a grown-up solution.

We have reached the point with Nix that we trust him, we believe he will play well. It doesn’t mean he will — his first playoff game in Buffalo where the Bills are undefeated this season is a daunting task — but that is the assumption. I want to see how he handles this. Broncos Country is intrigued, not required to watch through scary movie fingers.

This is not to suggest Nix is better than Allen. He is not. What it says is that the Broncos finally have a quarterback good enough to make everyone stop wringing their hands about what could have been.

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