DENVER — Dawson Knox stepped out of the shower and moved slowly toward the corner of the locker room, water still dripping from his hair and shoulders, his eyes red from tears that hadn’t yet dried.

For the seventh time in seven NFL seasons, the Buffalo Bills’ veteran tight end was left processing another playoff disappointment. For the seventh time, Josh Allen — the franchise quarterback who has come to symbolize Buffalo’s hopes — walked off the postseason stage without the championship that the team, the city, and its fans so deeply long for.

This loss felt especially heavy. After a 33-30 overtime defeat to the Denver Broncos in Saturday night’s divisional playoff at Empower Field, Allen placed the responsibility squarely on himself. Fighting back emotion, he told reporters he felt he had let his teammates down and said he apologized to them afterward.

As the locker room absorbed yet another abrupt ending to a season filled with promise, Knox paused in the middle of the room, determined to push back against the idea that the defeat rested solely on his quarterback’s shoulders.

“The way he tears himself apart comes from how much he cares,” Knox said quietly. “He carries this whole team and this whole city. I can’t even imagine that weight.

“Heavy is the head that wears the crown.”

Allen, the reigning NFL MVP, did have reasons to shoulder part of the blame. In a game that laid bare the Bills’ structural flaws, he accounted for four of the team’s five turnovers, throwing two interceptions and losing two fumbles. Those mistakes ultimately cost Buffalo a chance to reach a second straight AFC Championship Game.

“When you make mistakes like that,” Allen admitted, “you don’t deserve to win.”

Still, the reality for the sixth-seeded Bills is that their margin for error is razor-thin. Almost every week, and certainly in games of this magnitude, Buffalo needs Allen to be extraordinary just to stay competitive. Asking one player to consistently play the role of superhero is an enormous burden — and it increasingly looks like an unsustainable path to a Super Bowl.

That truth stings even more given the circumstances of this season. Several of Allen’s most formidable AFC rivals — Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, and Joe Burrow — were absent from the playoff picture, making the loss to the top-seeded Broncos all the more painful.

“This isn’t on him,” left tackle Dion Dawkins said firmly. “It’s not.”

Yet week after week, so much rests on Allen’s shoulders. His on-field brilliance and widely praised leadership have made him beloved inside the locker room. Teammates talk about the gatherings he hosts for players and their families, about the way he brings people together. Even if Allen felt he failed on Saturday night, no one around him wanted to hear it.

“He’s the best leader you could ask for,” said backup quarterback Mitchell Trubisky. “We all wish we could do more for him.”

Dawkins echoed that sentiment. “We’ve got to protect him. He’s a warrior. It’s on the rest of us to make sure he doesn’t have to do everything.”

Allen did everything he could statistically. He threw for 283 yards and three touchdowns, added 66 rushing yards on 12 carries, and kept Buffalo alive in a game where the defense once again surrendered at least 30 points — the fifth time that happened this season.

That number alone tells the story of how much Allen is being asked to cover up.

In the end, Buffalo’s depleted secondary couldn’t withstand Denver’s attack, even after Broncos quarterback Bo Nix suffered a broken ankle late in the game. Wil Lutz’s 23-yard field goal on Denver’s third overtime possession sealed the outcome.

Offensively, beyond Allen and running back James Cook, who rushed 24 times for 117 yards, the Bills lacked reliable weapons. One telling detail: Allen’s second-most-targeted wide receiver was Brandin Cooks, a 12-year veteran signed just weeks earlier in late November.

The conclusion feels unavoidable. The current formula isn’t working, and Saturday’s loss felt less like an isolated heartbreak and more like a final argument against staying the course.

That raises difficult questions for owner Terry Pegula. Head coach Sean McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane have now completed nine seasons in their roles. Since drafting Allen seventh overall in 2018, they’ve had eight postseason opportunities to reach the Super Bowl — and eight times, January has ended in disappointment.

As one team source put it before the game, every year without a title feels like a squandered chance. Franchise quarterbacks are rare, and Buffalo knows it must figure out how to maximize the gift it has.

Denver’s defense capitalized on Allen’s most costly error with 16 seconds left in the first half. After the Broncos took a 17-10 lead, Buffalo chose to run a play rather than kneel. With no timeouts, Allen scrambled up the middle and was stripped from behind by edge rusher Nik Bonitto. The loose ball was recovered by Denver, setting up a 50-yard field goal at the buzzer that swung momentum decisively.

Early in the second half, Bonitto struck again, strip-sacking Allen and giving Denver possession deep in Bills territory. Another Lutz field goal pushed the lead to 23-10.

Yet Allen refused to fold. Touchdown passes to Keon Coleman and Dalton Kincaid put Buffalo back in front, and when the Bills took possession late in the fourth quarter with a one-point lead, it looked like Allen had once again rescued the season.

“The light was there,” Dawkins said. “It just went out fast.”

After falling behind again, Allen drove Buffalo into field-goal range to force overtime. The Bills got the ball back with a chance to win, but on third-and-long, Allen’s deep throw intended for Cooks was intercepted by Ja’Quan McMillian. The play was reviewed quickly, and officials ruled that Cooks never completed the catch.

McDermott was visibly frustrated afterward, questioning why such a critical decision wasn’t reviewed more deliberately after months of preparation and hours of evenly matched football.

The frustration only deepened when pass-interference calls helped Denver move into position for the game-winning score, sealing another abrupt end to Buffalo’s season.

The Bills’ conference championship drought now stands at 32 years. Allen, clearly crushed, walked toward the team buses alone, hood pulled over his head, lost in thought.

“It’s not all on him,” McDermott said later. “It’s on all of us.”

Back in the quiet locker room, Knox was still defending his quarterback.

“That’s who he is,” Knox said. “He puts everything on himself. We can’t let him do that.

“He’ll keep wearing that crown. He’s Superman. And he’s not going anywhere.”

For now, Allen heads into another offseason replaying what might have been — and what must change. The unavoidable conclusion remains: if Buffalo truly wants to go where it dreams of going, it has to find a way to lighten the load on its Superman.