Before we issue Bo Nix a badge as the new sheriff in town, shouldn’t he have to earn his star with a victory in the NFL playoffs?

Through 14 NFL seasons of playoff frustration, John Elway endured until his 37th birthday before hoisting the Lombardi Trophy on those joyous evenings in 1998 and 1999.

At age 39, Peyton Manning walked away from football as a champion after his final game wearing orange and blue.

By comparison, Nix is still the new kid on the block in Denver.

And growing up in the NFL playoffs is hard to do.

A year ago, Nix’s playoff debut was a dog-day January afternoon to forget in Buffalo, as the young Denver quarterback and his teammates got bounced 31-7 by the Bills.

After Nix put a bow on the Broncos’ spiffy 14-3 record with the coveted No. 1 seed for the AFC playoffs, I asked the feisty quarterback on Sunday what, if any, value remains now from being humbled in the playoffs as a rookie.

“Playoffs are one thing. (But) going on the road to a tough Buffalo team, you can take a lot of experiences from that, (with) everything you learned,” Nix said.

Although the loss to the Bills stung, Nix would “much rather have played a game last year in the playoffs than not, and this time being my first one.”

For those of you keeping score at home, Nix already gives himself credit for a big, positive playoff experience based on the Broncos earning a bye as the AFC’s top seed.

“It’s like winning a playoff game … so it’s huge having that bye,” said Nix, before slipping in a joke as sly and sharp as a stiletto. “And also you get an extra playoff check.”

Yes, it’s true. Denver players do earn a sweet financial reward from the league for taking this week off from the playoffs. Beats working, eh?

If the chase for this NFL championship seems uncommonly wide open, maybe it’s because every contender has flaws and there’s no team to fear in the playoff field.

The league feels like it’s in a period of transition between the fall of the Chiefs’ Kingdom and the rise of the next dynasty. Nothing shouts the chaos in this power vacuum louder than reciting aloud the playoff resumes of the starting quarterbacks for the top two seeds in each conference.

Add up all the previous NFL playoff victories earned by Seattle’s Sam Darnold, Chicago’s Caleb Williams, New England’s Drake Maye and Nix. What number do you get?

A big, fat zero.

Aaron Rodgers, Matthew Stafford and Jalen Hurts are the only quarterbacks in the entire playoff field who own a Super Bowl ring.

While a quarterback’s history of success in playoff pressure can’t be overrated, maybe this is the one postseason when it’s overstated. 

So I’m saying there’s a chance for Nix, who stands three victories away from being a Super Bowl champ at the precocious age of 25.

The NFL, however, has a nasty habit of forcing quarterbacks to take their lumps before taking home the Lombardi Trophy. While Patrick Mahomes won the championship in his third pro season, he first had to learn how to win a playoff game and endure the pain of losing at home in the AFC championship a year earlier.

Winning the Super Bowl in the same season a young quarterback records the first playoff victory of his NFL career might not require a football miracle, but it simply doesn’t happen unless that QB has been blessed by the football gods.

Way back in the 2001 NFL season, a 24-year-old quarterback lacking a single playoff victory on his resume did roll to three straight wins to claim a championship. Who pulled off that unlikely feat?

Some guy named Tom Brady.

I’m not suggesting Nix can’t lead the Broncos to a championship this season.

But if he does, it would be nothing short of legendary.

Elway will forever be revered as the Duke of Denver.

While I liked to call him PFM, Manning was known in more polite company as the Sheriff.

With 24 victories and counting in two pro seasons, Nix has put the mania, not to mention the fun, back in Broncomania.

Not. Too. Shabby.

The die-hards ache to deputize Nix as our new football hero with a nickname worthy of Denver’s proud lineage of legendary quarterbacks.

The Duke. The Sheriff. The Marshal?

Well, sir. I humbly suggest holding your horses.

And excuse me, ma’am, for being the voice of reason.

It’s premature for any of us, including coach Sean Payton, to declare Nix an elite NFL quarterback until he leads the Broncos on a playoff run.

Elway won 14 playoff games.

Manning also recorded 14 postseason victories during his Hall of Fame career, but was often dissed for choking on the big stage until he won five times in the playoffs as a member of the Broncos, with Super Bowl 50 his final, shining moment.

Football is a sport ruled by great quarterbacks and coaches.

But a note to Nix:

A quarterback doesn’t run this town until he wins in the NFL playoffs.