Sean Payton on AFC West hats, T-shirts: ‘My understanding is they’re pretty ugly’

The Broncos had just officially earned their first AFC West championship in a decade.

Head coach Sean Payton watched the final moments of Houston beating the Los Angeles Chargers on Saturday, he said, “probably like everybody else,” and his mind immediately turned to Monday’s team meeting and Denver’s preparations for a Week 18 tilt against the Chargers.

Denver, of course, has a lot to play for. Win and the team secures the AFC’s No. 1 seed. Lose, and the overwhelming likelihood is they tumble to the No. 2 or No. 3 slot.

“This game is very much like a playoff game,” Payton said.

Along the way over the weekend, Payton got a text from longtime equipment manager Chris “Flip” Valenti asking what Payton wanted done with the AFC West champion hats and T-shirts.

Those, of course, are central to any good sports celebration.

“Give me my hat and T-shirt baby!” kicker Wil Lutz tweeted after Houston won Saturday.

The Broncos didn’t get a chance to don them after clinching a division since they had already beat Kansas City on Thursday night.

So Payton told Flip to hang the gear in players’ lockers.

Turns out, that was the extent of the celebration at the club’s headquarters.

“I haven’t seen the hats or the shirts,” Payton said. “My understanding is they’re pretty ugly.”

Payton said late Monday morning that he didn’t even mention the division title during the morning team meeting.

“We actually didn’t even talk about it, and I don’t know if that’s something I should have (talked about) or omitted,” Payton said. “… We just didn’t really talk about it. The focus was on this week’s game and the Chargers and the seeding ramifications. Really trying to educate them relative to what’s going to be important here, down the stretch.”

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