Super Bowl Bound? Pat Surtain II Confident Broncos' Window is Opening

The Denver Broncos just snapped an eight-year playoff drought, but Pat Surtain II is bullish on the team's Super Bowl window opening up.

Dec 15, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Broncos cornerback Pat Surtain II (2) gestures after a play in the third quarter against the Indianapolis Colts at Empower Field at Mile High. / Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

On the heels of winning the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year award, Denver Broncos cornerback Patrick Surtain II has an eye on winning the Super Bowl, although he's well aware that Rome wasn't built in a day. That's doubly true in the cutthroat landscape of professional football.

The Broncos' recent free-agent additions are reminiscent of when former GM John Elway went all-in back in 2014 to load up a roster that was capable of making a Super Bowl run. It paid dividends, as Elway hoisted the Lombardi Trophy to crown the 2015 season in Super Bowl 50.

Surtain is the cream of the NFL crop, and one of his core strengths is his composure and his ability to maintain a cool head under pressure. That measured persona helps him to also stay grounded about what lies ahead for the ascending Broncos as they attempt to climb the ladder into a Super Bowl window of their own, although he can't help but let his optimism show. 

"Obviously, you just don't wake up and say like, 'Okay, I want to be in the Super Bowl,'" Surtain recently told RG reporter DJ Siddiqi. "Obviously, there's work to be put in before that. I think we have a great chance for sure. We're building up a team to reach—obviously in the playoffs—but even further... Like I said, we built this team up for the right reasons to reach that step, so we'll see. But I'm very optimistic about our future in reaching that Super Bowl." 

For that to happen in Denver, the greater team trajectory will have to catch up with Surtain's levels of excellence. Part and parcel of becoming a bonafide contender is hanging tough through the setbacks that come when you inevitably run into elite competition. 

After the Broncos' liberating 10-win season in 2024, the prize was to face the high-powered Buffalo Bills in the playoffs. While the Broncos' 31-7 Wildcard loss in upstate New York certainly left the team's collective ego bruised, the lessons learned from the one-sided beatdown will be crucial, according to Surtain. 

"Everything's got to be spot on," Surtain told Siddiqi of winning in the playoffs. "The urgency, the attention to detail. You could feel the magnitude, the atmosphere of the playoffs. You realize this is playoff football. To get to that point again, it will be for sure the next step, no doubt. Now we know what it's like, but not it's about winning, and it's about consistency in that mark." 

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Bo Nix will be the canary in the Broncos' competitive coal mine as the team works to return to the playoffs. As the second-year quarterback goes, so does the team.

History tells us that second-year campaigns can often send previously successful quarterbacks reeling backward in terms of their development, but Surtain is convinced, after what he saw during his rookie year, that Nix has a lot going for himself. 

Nix excelled as a rookie working alongside Broncos head coach Sean Payton, setting multiple league and team records. And if collective success is to be achieved moving forward, Surtain is well aware that his quarterback will be the catalyst. 

"He's a great teammate, a great person as well, a great leader," Surtain told Siddiqi of Nix. "You could tell when he is on the field, he has great confidence that he possesses out there and it shines bright each and every Sunday... I saw him grow each and every week. Just seeing his mechanics, just the way he goes about his business, and it's kind of rewarding knowing that you have a guy like that you work with each and every week. I'm looking forward to his success at the end of the day." 

The Broncos feel like they've finally found their answer under center at long last, and that undoubtedly goes for Coach Payton as well as Surtain. Payton is also providing the exact kind of continuity that Surtain and the Broncos so desperately needed in the years prior to the head coach's arrival.

Moving forward, Surtain is setting his goals upon much loftier team ambitions. 

"Oh, for sure," Surtain said about chasing a Lombardi. "I think any team is a contender. I feel like that's the topic that some people look at and say, 'Are the Broncos Super Bowl contenders?' I feel like we are contenders in our own right. I feel like we are building success and I think we are headed in the right direction, for sure."

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