With last night’s closer-than-expected victory over the Chiefs — Denver’s first at Arrowhead Stadium in a decade — Broncos coach Sean Payton joined Bill Belichick as the only coaches with at least five seasons of 13 or more wins. (Belichick had seven.)
Payton was asked about the accomplishment after the game.
“I have been fortunate to have been on and coached a lot of great players,” Payton told reporters. “There is nothing like winning. When I heard that, I had trouble figuring out which were the 13-win teams. We had some other teams that were 12- or 11-win teams. I have been fortunate to have really good players and real good coaches. Some of them who are right here that have been a part of all of those wins, part of those wins. Obviously, Bill is good company. Let’s keep it going.”
In New Orleans, Payton’s Saints won 13 or more games in 2009, 2011, 2018, and 2019. The Saints had 11 wins three others times (2010, 2013, 2017) and 12 wins once (2020). That’s eight years with 11 or more victories.
As to the Broncos getting their first victory at Kansas City in a decade, Payton said he didn’t bring that up with his players in the days preceding the game.
“Those are someone else’s demons,” Payton said. “I heard that all of the time in New Orleans, ‘You’ve never won a playoff game.’ That’s not this team. You can’t fight those other demons.”
On Thursday night, they finally exorcized that specific demon. But the Broncos have far bigger goals. As Payton said after clinching a playoff berth, that wasn’t one of the objectives. The first was to win the division. And that still hasn’t happened. If the Chargers beat the Texans on Saturday afternoon, it’ll come down to Chargers at Broncos in Week 18, as Payton goes for his first ever 14-win season.
