With 1:05 minutes left in Sunday’s season opener, the Denver Broncos led the Tennessee Titans 20-12 and faced a fourth-and-8 from the 36-yard line. Instead of going for a 54-yard field goal, which is kicker Wil Lutz, coach Sean Payton decided to go for the first down.

In fact, he went for a touchdown. But what Payton hoped would be a big moment for quarterback Bo Nix actually is proof as to why the team asked too much of the second-year passer in Week 1.

Receivers Marvin Mims Jr. and Courtland Sutton crossed over the middle of the field in opposite directions; Mims had a defender on his heel, while Sutton couldn’t have been more open. Nix tossed the ball up in the air in the direction of Mims, but it never had a chance to be an accurate pass. Nix completely missed the wide-open Sutton for what could have been a touchdown.

Nix’s last pass of a 40-attempt day was a disaster. And his struggles over the course of the afternoon were a big part of why the Broncos beat last year’s worst team by just one possession. On the day, Nix completed 62.5% of his passes for just 176 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. He also lost a fumble.

Not every performance from Nix will look like this, but the amount of opportunities he had on a bad day highlighted a bad plan from Payton. It was clear the third-year Broncos coach was going out of his way to try to make Nix look good.

As Nix’s head coach, Payton should be confident in his quarterback’s abilities. That doesn’t mean he should blindly trust him, though. Nix made a handful of bad decisions and many of them came back to hurt the Broncos. He was accountable for three of the team’s four turnovers. Nix showed flashes last year, but he also had a fair share of questionable decisions and puzzling mistakes. He still looks to have those faults.

The former 12th-overall pick also made his money in the short range against the Titans, something he showed plenty last season. He completed 22-of-27 attempts behind the line of scrimmage or within 10 yards, according to Pro Football Focus. He was just three-of-nine past 10 yards.

Plus, the Broncos were always within striking distance of the Titans or in the lead. They weren’t trying to climb out of a hole. So it didn’t make sense that they would rely so much on Nix when it was clearly not his best day. Instead of establishing the run game, though, Payton just kept going to Nix.

Denver tried to establish the play action game, and it looked like a main emphasis, especially early. The team called 16 play action plays on 43 drop backs. But it wasn’t working like it was supposed to.

The Broncos didn’t sprinkle in nearly enough run plays for the play action plays to be effective. Denver’s running backs—J.K. Dobbins and RJ Harvey—ran the ball only 22 times.

With how skewed the play calling was to the passing attack, it would appear the run game was ineffective. But Dobbins and Harvey combined for 133 yards, 6.05 yards per carry. Even factoring in that one of Harvey’s runs was a 50-yard chunk, that’s good efficiency. But plays like that are expected from Harvey, who was brought in as a potential big play threat.

While the Titans have a good defensive line with Jeffery Simmons and T’Vondre Sweat, that’s not enough of a reason to shy away from the run. And next week, could be an even tougher matchup in the trenches.

The Indianapolis Colts’ line is bolstered by DeForest Buckner and Grover Stewart in the middle. The edge is held down by Kwity Paye and Laiatu Latu. Maybe the running attack can try to get outside the tackles, but positive runs up the middle could be hard to come by.

This was the week to establish the run early. Nix was likely to have plenty of rust, and he certainly did. While Dobbins is in his first year with the team, and Harvey is a rookie, Dobbins is a good veteran and Harvey has the physical skills to make a big play happen simply by getting the ball.

Dobbins, 68.3, and Harvey, 66.4, were two of the higher graded players on offense, according to PFF. Nix, on the other hand, ended the day with a 40.5 PFF grade, which was the lowest grade of his career.

Payton treating Nix like a Pro Bowl level quarterback didn’t just hold the Broncos’ offense back in Week 1. It almost resulted in a loss to one of the worst teams in the league. If Denver wants to look closer to the playoff team it’s expected to be, it needs better play from Nix, but it also needs Payton to realize the team is more than just a Pro Bowl case for Nix.