Sean Payton calls Chiefs loss “gut-wrenching” after brutal final play
Nov 10, 2024, 2:26 PM
The Denver Broncos and head coach Sean Payton did everything they could to beat the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.
It still wasn’t enough.
In one of the more heartbreaking regular season losses in franchise history, the Broncos fell to the hated Chiefs 16-14 thanks to a blocked 35-yard field goal with one second left.
It’s hard to stomach, as Denver is now 5-5 and very easily could be 6-4. They also could’ve handed Kansas City its first loss of the season, but they were unable to execute a simple play that every NFL team can do with ease.
After the game, Payton was understandably pretty down and upset.
“I felt like we outplayed them, but we didn’t finish. We had an opportunity to right at the end, we kind of controlled the ball, and we’ve got to be able to finish. That one will take awhile, it’ll sting,” Payton said.
Rookie QB Bo Nix marched the Broncos 43 yards in just under six minutes to leave basically no time on the clock and have a short field goal for the win. It wasn’t to be, as the left side of Denver’s offensive line got blown up and the Chiefs blocked Wil Lutz’s kick.
“When you do this long enough, hopefully you’re at the better half, not the other way around, there’s some tough losses like that. But I told our team I was proud of how they fought, I thought we outplayed them. But nonetheless you’ve got to beat a champion, and we weren’t able to do it. So obviously, gut-wrenching,” Payton said.
When asked what happened on the play, Payton said what we all saw.
“Penetration on the left side,” Payton said.
And for the Broncos, this was the plan. Patrick Mahomes was never going to touch the football again and they were going to leave Kansas City as 17-16 winners. It didn’t happen.
“It really played out exactly how we wanted it to. Like, exactly. With the ball, with the clock, with complete control of everything. We just couldn’t finish it,” Payton said.
Payton feels for guys like Nix and the Denver defense that did enough to walk away with a huge AFC West victory.
“As a coach, you just hurt for your players,” Sean Payton said.
Now, it’s back to the drawing board. The Falcons come to Empower Field at Mile High next weekend, but this one will sting for days, if not weeks. Especially if the Broncos miss the playoffs by one game.
