Sean Payton wears Jordans, Lululemon sweats, and cashes $15 million checks.
But here is a little secret: He is at his best when he gets no respect. When everyone thinks he has no chance.
Such is the case Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs. This is the biggest game in Denver since the 2015 season. What was supposed to serve as a platform to provide a definitive answer about the AFC West instead has raised an uncomfortable question.
How on earth are the Broncos going to beat them?
How can they overcome injuries and the absences of Pat Surtain II, J.K. Dobbins and Alex Singleton?
In the game of the decade, Denver looks miscast. The Broncos are only the sixth team in NFL history to be a home underdog while riding a home winning streak of at least 10 games, and the first since the 2007 Colts.
Yep, no chance.
This is Payton’s sweet spot.
When Sunday is over, be prepared to call this his finest victory in Denver.
No, it does not make sense.
The Chiefs are too good, too desperate, and too invincible after a bye week under Andy Reid (22-4) and with Patrick Mahomes (6-1) at quarterback. That is what people are thinking. And you can’t blame them. At 5-4, the Chiefs need this game a lot more than the undermanned Broncos.
This is when Payton earns his salary and extends his impact beyond an elite culture builder.
He is skilled at motivating, leveraging slights and inflating the confidence of a Broncos team critics have diagnosed with imposter syndrome.
Don’t think the Broncos are strong enough, buttoned up enough, creative enough to hang with the Chiefs?
Consider yourself warned.
“These guys are focused,” Payton said Friday. “They certainly understand the significance of the game.”
Multiple times in New Orleans, Payton delivered in the face of logic. Remember Teddy Bridgewater starting in place of the injured Drew Brees in 2019 and upsetting the Seattle Seahawks in his first meaningful game action in four years?
How about when Hurricane Ida forced the Saints to move their 2021 season opener against the Packers to a neutral site in Jacksonville, and they hammered Green Bay 38-3? Or when the Broncos won in Buffalo on a frigid Monday night in 2023 and at Tampa Bay last season?
Stack the odds against Payton, and he jumps them like Evel Knievel over 14 Greyhound buses at Kings Island. Not sure if you noticed this, but Payton is pretty smart. And not shy about it.
But that is the secret sauce on his resume.
He loves the mental challenge, dives headfirst into the mind games, embraces being part couch, part coach. It is my theory that he pushes more right buttons in weeks like this because he is not favored. Expectations, historically, have led his teams to play tight, most notably in the playoffs.
Put Payton in a regular-season mismatch, and he coaches with freedom that resonates in the locker room.
“Sean Payton, that’s my guy. I puff my chest out and walk around the city proudly with my Broncos gear on because of him. The moment he set foot in Colorado, I knew we had a chance because we had a Hall of Fame coach,” former Broncos standout receiver Emmanuel Sanders said Thursday. “I loved playing for him. He walks with that swagger in weeks like this, so it lets you be yourself. He is going to tell it like it is. He don’t give two Fs.”
That is why an A performance, needed after the Raiders’ slogfest, is forthcoming.
Payton has played it cool all week, giving the Chiefs their due. He knows they have run the division for nine straight seasons, and has nothing but admiration for Reid and Mahomes.
But this week and this opponent mesh perfectly with Payton’s favorite messaging.
He relishes pushing buttons to get his players believing, if not frothing, when the football world dismisses them.
Before the Eagles game he painted the picture of how horrible road teams play before London. Before the Giants game, players were made aware that the Broncos were the first team west of the Mississippi not to have a bye after returning from abroad.
It folds back into the mindset he wants. Every excuse is available. And that is why the Broncos won’t make one. He loves to remind his guys that they will play in bigger games, a nod toward the postseason.
As regular-season contests go, though, it does not get bigger than this.
Win Sunday and the Broncos can bury the Chiefs in the AFC West, opening up a 3.5 game lead with six games to play. If the Broncos lose, they fall to 8-3. A playoff berth remains a certainty, but a division title becomes greasy because of the Chiefs, the Chargers, the remaining schedule and the tiebreakers.
That is what everyone expects. Understandable after watching the Broncos offense the past six weeks.
There is no Dobbins, Courtland Sutton is in a mini-slump and there has been so much talk about Bo Nix’s footwork this week, you’d think he was on “Dancing With The Stars.”
And here comes Payton. He probably should wear a canine mask to hide his smirk.
This might not end up as the season’s biggest game, but it is the most typical Payton moment.
The Broncos are an easy mark. Really? Just watch.
“He lives for games like this, the way he is wired. He is fearless,” former Falcons quarterback and CBS studio analyst Matt Ryan said. “And I have seen how his level of bravado trickles into this team. They play fast, they play loose, and, from experience, they play well.”
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