Sean Payton Had Sad Regret About Fourth Down Call in Broncos’ AFC Championship Loss

It’s not what you might think.

Broncos coach Sean Payton has come under fire for electing not to kick a field goal early in the Broncos’ AFC championship loss to the Patriots. | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Broncos coach Sean Payton knew exactly what was on the line when he elected to go for it on a fourth-and-1 in the second quarter of Sunday’s AFC championship game loss to the Patriots. Thinking the Broncos had the momentum to go up two scores, he decided not to kick the field goal—and ultimately saw his team lose by a field goal in the bitter 10-7 defeat.

Afterward, Payton was stunned. “I can’t believe we lost,” the veteran coach told ESPN’s Seth Wickersham.

The two apparently discussed Payton’s pivotal decision following Sunday’s loss, at which point Payton admitted he had one regret —and it’s not kicking a field goal.

Wickersham wrote:

"I wish I'd stayed with the initial play call," Payton said softly, leaving the stadium. "The look they showed on film, and the look we saw, wasn't the look we got."

Payton’s initial play call on the fourth down, as Wickersham broke down, was a running play called Nickel Duo that Denver often used on fourth-and-shorts. But after coming out of a timeout, Payton decided to go with a passing play instead: Slipper Naked, a bootleg to the right. The passing play immediately got blown up by the Patriots’ defense, who played zone and heavily pressured Stidham off the snap.

But at the snap, the Patriots surprised Denver by playing Red Two, a zone defense, behind a six-man front. The play had no chance.

Stidham ended up throwing an incomplete pass to the right, turned the ball over on downs and the Broncos failed to score any points for the remainder of the game.

What makes Payton’s decision not to kick a field goal more interesting is that just a week earlier, he had reportedly questioned Bears coach Ben Johnson’s decision to go for it on fourth down early in Chicago’s divisional round playoff loss to the Rams.

"Kick it," Payton said, per Wickersham's reporting in the same piece, as the Bears lined up for a fourth-and-2 in Rams’ territory in the first quarter. When Caleb Wiliams’s pass was intercepted on the ensuing play, Payton reportedly commented to himself, "Why are coaches not kicking field goals?"

Perhaps Payton could have taken some of his own advice in Sunday’s narrow loss to the Patriots that crushed the Broncos’ Super Bowl dreams. But, even in the solemn aftermath, it seems the only thing the Broncos coach regrets is not calling a better play.

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