Ex-NFL Player Calls Out Sean McVay and Sean Payton Over Costly FG Decisions

Sean McVay and the Rams had their season come to an end with a loss to the Seahawks in the NFC championship game. | Kevin Ng-Imagn Images

The Rams and Broncos had their seasons come to an end on Sunday with heartbreaking losses in their respective conference championship games. And once the final whistles were blown, both Sean Payton and Sean McVay were questioned about their decisions to not kick field goals on key fourth downs.

Payton and the Broncos opted to go for it on fourth down early in the second quarter against the Patriots instead of kicking a short field goal that would have given them a 10-0 lead over the Patriots. Denver was unable to pick up the first down and then went on to lose the game by three points.

McVay and the Rams faced a little bit of a different situation with just over five minutes left in their game against the Seahawks when they decided to go for it on 4th-and-4 from Seattle's six-yard line while trailing by four points. Matthew Stafford's pass fell incomplete and the Rams went on to lose, 31-27.

ESPN's Booger McFarland questioned both head coaches after the game for making those decisions.

"You gotta understand, and I get it there are a lot of people out there that are gonna say analytics and ESPN analytics will say go and all that—at some point understand the momentum of the game and understand how it goes," McFarland said on ESPN's NFL Primetime. "In that situation Sean McVay, you bring (Harrison) Mevis out there you kick the field goal now you put the pressure back on Seattle’s offense. And so now if you’re Seattle's offense and you go three and out and you get the ball back we don’t need a touchdown.  We got a kicker that can kick a 50-yarder and we’re on turf so we don’t have to worry about the footing. And so now the pressure goes back to Seattle’s offense to keep the football."

"I just think, and I hope it doesn’t rear its ugly head in the Super Bowl—if you’re a coach out there and you’ve got an opportunity, the name of the game is to score more points than the opponent," McFarland continued. "The last time I checked a field goal counts as three points. But for some reason we get coaches that get a little greedy. And I get it, Dan Campbell set this precedent a couple of years ago going for it and being so aggressive. We’ve got to get back to like doing the things that used to help us. I won a playoff game by kicking five field goals. The great Indianapolis Colts, we went to Baltimore, we won 15-9. You can win with field goals. Don’t be so disappointed and feel like you have to go for everything. If you’re Sean McVay and if you’re Sean Payton and you have a conference this offseason they’re gonna talk about hey, maybe we have to learn how to kick a few more field goals."

Here's that segment:

Booger McFarland also questioned Sean McVay's decision to go for it on 4th-and-4 at the Seattle 6-yard line, trailing by 4 with under 5 minutes remaining in the NFC Championship.

"I won a playoff game kicking 5 field goals... You can win with field goals." 🏈🎙️ #NFL https://t.co/qK65Py0ydw pic.twitter.com/vJFku33u5j

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 26, 2026

It's easy to second guess both coaches after their losses, but there's no guarantee that the Rams would have been able to stop Seattle's offense if they kicked a field goal instead of going for it in that situation. And if they did, there's no guarantee they would have been able to kick a field goal to win the game.

With the Broncos, there's no guarantee that the game would have played out differently if they had kicked a field goal in the second quarter.

What we do know is that both the Rams and Broncos are now faced with long offseasons of wondering what could have been if a few things went their way.

The Seahawks and Patriots don't care because they both advanced to the Super Bowl, which will be played on Feb. 8 in San Francisco.

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