{"id":432095,"date":"2026-01-27T04:46:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T04:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/432095\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T04:46:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T04:46:07","slug":"said-sean-payton-during-rams-bears-why-are-coaches-not-kicking-field-goals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/432095\/","title":{"rendered":"Said Sean Payton during Rams-Bears: “Why are coaches not kicking field goals?”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Say what you will about Sean Payton\u2019s fateful decision to go for it on fourth down in the second quarter of Sunday\u2019s AFC Championship, but you can\u2019t say this: It was not a product of Payton being beholden to analytics.<\/p>\n

Payton has been open about the ongoing influence of numbers in football. For Payton, they\u2019re simply a piece of the puzzle. When he makes a move that seems to be driven by analytics, he\u2019s not doing so at the behest of the Ivy League mathematician whispering in his ear. It\u2019s Payton\u2019s decision, influenced by all of the factors \u2014 including how he feels about the play he plans to call.<\/p>\n

Indeed, and as reported by Seth Wickersham of ESPN.com, Payton had a decidedly old-school reaction when Bears coach Ben Johnson passed on a field goal to cap the opening drive of the divisional game against the Rams. <\/p>\n

\u201cKick it<\/a>,\u201d Payton said.<\/p>\n

After the play failed (the Rams intercepted the Bears near the goal line), Payton added, \u201cWhy are coaches not kicking field goals?\u201d<\/p>\n

The ESPN-Analytics-Say-Go vibe has taken over the sport in recent years, with coaches clinging to slim differences in percentages to justify being \u201caggressive!\u201d Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn\u2019t. (And for some teams, like the Lions, the commitment to going for it removes all unpredictability from the moment.)<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Payton seemingly zigged when he otherwise would have been expected to zag. He told Wickersham the goal was to go up 14-0, even thought 10-0 (and two scores) may have been good enough. And Payton thought he had the right play.<\/p>\n

But there was a problem. And this is a credit to Patriots coach Mike Vrabel. He had self-scouted. He broke a tendency. He gave the Broncos a look that made it appear the play would work. At the snap, the Patriots shifted into a defense that neutralized the play.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe look they showed on film, and the look we saw, wasn\u2019t the look we got,\u201d Payton told Wickersham.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a huge part of the go-for-it decision. Calling the right play. And thinking the play that was called will work. There are many factors that influence the outcome. And many factors that determine the decision to go for it.<\/p>\n

For Payton, it\u2019s never about blind adherence to math. He ultimately made a decision based on all factors. And the Patriots ultimately disguised the defense they\u2019d use to make the Broncos think the play they\u2019d called would work.<\/p>\n

Which overlooks another key factor in the go-for-it decision. Will the defense ultimately have a strategy for stopping that play you think will deliver success? When facing the Patriots and Vrabel, it\u2019s worth taking seriously the prospect that they\u2019ll be ready.<\/p>\n

Still, it\u2019s fair to believe Payton should have taken the points. Going up by 10 points could have meant everything, especially given the dramatic turn in the weather. And especially since a two-score game may have prompted an inexperienced quarterback to try a little too hard and to make a mistake that could open the floodgates for the Broncos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Say what you will about Sean Payton\u2019s fateful decision to go for it on fourth down in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432096,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[349,99],"class_list":["post-432095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}