The Broncos’ season came to an end on Sunday against the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game. Here are the grades from the 10-7 loss at Empower Field at Mile High that sends New England to Super Bowl LX. Offense Except for one drive in the first quarter, the Broncos’ offe nse struggled without Bo Nix. Jarrett Stidham threw for 133 yards but had a costly fumble and an interception. The running game also struggled, with Denver gaining 79 yards on 24 carries. Marvin Mims proved he needs to be more of a part of the offense going into next season with a 52-yard catch that set up the team’s only TD. The conditions were bad in the second half, and Denver was playing with a backup quarterback, but in the end, Denver needed more from this group. Grade: D Defense An outstanding effort by this group against a high-powered Patriots team. An effort that was good enough to win. They sacked Drake Maye five times and held him to 86 yards passing. Rhamondre Stevenson had 71 yards, but it took him 25 carries to get it. The only thing the Broncos didn’t do was force a turnover, which would have been helpful for their struggling offense. All in all, it was a dominant performance by Vance Joseph’s group. Grade: A Special teams Good and bad for the Denver special teams in Sunday’s loss. First, the bad. Wil Lutz, who has been clutch all year, missed two field goals. They were not easy field goals; one was from 54 yards, and the other was blocked in the bad conditions, but the Broncos have relied on Lutz all season. The good was punter Jeremy Crawshaw. The rookie had no problem in the cold like his New England counterpart. He flipped field position three times with punts downed inside the 20. Grade: C Coaching One call by head coach Sean Payton didn’t blow the game for the Broncos, but it sure didn’t help. With a chance to go up 10-0 in the second quarter and his defense dominating the Patriots, Payton decided to skip a field-goal attempt and go for it. The Broncos did not get it. While the Patriots didn’t score on that drive, it swung the momentum a bit. Payton has believed in this team all season and got them this far, but that decision hurt in a close game. Grade: C ...read more read less