Criticism of Sean Payton last week was misguided and off base

Hearing all of the criticism of Sean Payton, it’s hard not to feel like Chevy Chase toward the end of “Vacation.” Might as well be driving through Flagstaff, Arizona, it’s raining, Aunt Edna was just left on on her son’s back porch and everyone is trying to bail on the trip to Walley World.

“I think you’re all (bleeped) in the head.”

It’s not that the criticism isn’t understandable. There are plenty of reasons to be frustrated as a Broncos fan right now.

The team went 14-3 in the regular season, won their first playoff game in a decade and was 60 minutes away from a trip to the Super Bowl. Then, it was all ripped away when Bo Nix broke his ankle in the final minutes of Denver’s win over Buffalo in the Divisional Round, an injury that wound up forcing the Broncos to play a backup QB in the AFC title game.

But taking that out in the guy who got the Broncos into that position? That seems a bit much.

Should Payton have taken the points with a 7-0 lead over the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game? Probably. But it’s a little bit of revisionist history to definitely make that judgment now.

Denver lost by three points, so that field goal looms pretty large. But they had a chance to bury New England and their head coach knew it.

Yes, a 10-0 lead would’ve been massive with the way the Broncos defense was playing. Sure, a two-score game with a snowstorm rolling in would’ve been a great situation for the home team.

But you know what would’ve been better? A 14-0 lead.

With Jarrett Stidham at quarterback, the Broncos were only going to be in a position to get into the end zone so many times on that day. That’s why Payton pushed in his chips.

Settling for a 48-yard field goal would’ve been one thing; Denver wasn’t knocking on the door in that instance. But a 32-yard chip shot? That’s shorter than an extra point, which makes it would’ve felt like a missed opportunity.

And that’s what it would’ve been. The Broncos were right there. They had a chance to seize total control of the game. So they took their shot.

It didn’t work out. And that stinks. But to question a head coach for trying to strike while the iron was hot is silly.

Go down swinging. Being passive is never the best approach.

The FG decision was probably a 60/40 proposition, with the better option to kick. But people in the Mile High City act like it was a 100/0 type of thing, something that only Payton could’ve possibly botched. And that’s ridiculous.

But that’s not the only thing Payton has been criticized for since the season came to an end. He’s also been blasted for revealing too much about Nix’s injury, including by the QB himself.

So, now we’re mad about too much transparency? The outage is because a coach didn’t dance around a question (see “lower body injury” in the NHL) and was too forthright?

Good grief. Some people just want to be mad about something at all times.

Payton was open and honest. It’s hard to criticize him for that.

I’m also not going to try to turn it into a HIPAA violation. What a bunch of hooey.

Think about what we all know about Alex Singleton’s personal medical history. This is how it works in the NFL; private information about players is always very public.

It’s the nature of the beast. It’s the way the league works.

Was Nix justified in being upset that his ankle injury history was revealed? Maybe. But that’s just not living in the real world.

It’s common knowledge that John Elway didn’t have an ACL during his time with the Broncos, stemming from an injury suffered in high school. He also played his final two seasons with a torn bicep tendon.

We all know how many concussions Pat Bryant has suffered. We’re well aware that J.K. Dobbins has a Lisfranc injury. And we know that Brandon Jones tore his pectoral earlier this season.

So why is this any different? It’s not.

We know that Nix had ankle surgery. And it wasn’t his first; he had one in college and one at Auburn. At least we think. Who knows? And who cares? It’s not going to hurt Nix one bit come second-contract time, assuming he has another good season in 2026.

The latest break might’ve been a pre-existing condition; the joint might’ve been a ticking time bomb, just waiting to blow up the Broncos season. Or maybe it wasn’t. Who knows? And who cares, as it doesn’t change the way the season ended.

There’s also concern about the fact that Payton fired some assistant coaches after the season. It came across as scapegoating to some, with the head coach pointing the finger of blame at everyone other than himself for the team’s lackluster performance in the AFC Championship Game.

No one seems to consider that Joe Lombardi, the grandson of Vince Lombardi, is a journeyman assistant. He’s been coaching in the NFL since 2006, advancing as high as being an offensive coordinator, as he was in Denver.

But no one saw the 54-year-old coach as a rising star. He wasn’t on anyone’s interview list for head-coach openings this season, despite being the OC for a 14-win team. Heck, the Broncos quarterbacks coach bagged a couple of interviews.

And Payton wanted to make sure he kept Davis Webb around, who will move into the offensive coordinator role with Lombardi’s departure. A 30-year-old on the rise or someone in his mid-50s who has plateaued? That’s an easy decision, one that Payton had to make.

But this is what happens when a prickly person stumbles. No one tries to help him up; they point and laugh at him.

Payton has earned very little benefit of the doubt during his three seasons in the Mile High City. He treats the media like dirt, often trying to make fools of them during press conferences. And he lectures the fans about when to cheer.

Overall, he just comes across as a bit of a tyrant. And that rubs people the wrong way.

When he wins, no one says a word; victories trump all. But when Payton’s team loses, especially when it’s because of a questionable decision he made, people pounce. And they do it quickly.

That’s what happened last week. The vultures were circling. The critics were out with their pitchforks.

But they weren’t complaining about the right things. They weren’t griping about the things that really bother them about Payton. Instead, they deflected.

There are plenty of reasons to criticize the Broncos head coach. Trying to convince everyone that Stidham is a better QB than Russell Wilson, not being able to bring in any top-flight skill-position players to put around Nix, poor clock and game management decisions immediately come to mind.

But being a risk-taker isn’t one of them. After all, this is a guy who is most-famous for calling a surprise onside kick to open the second half of the Super Bowl.

Neither is being too forthright with information. And keeping a rising star over a retread isn’t either.

The loss to the Patriots stung. It was a fresh wound last week. And people overreacted.

They lashed out at Sean Payton. And they were wrong.

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