Broncos fans flame Sean Payton for not going for 2-point conversion in crucial loss to Bengals - "He is gutless", "Coward"

Broncos fans were unhappy with their head coach Sean Payton for not going for a two-point conversion with the score 24-23 in the Bengals' favor with eight seconds remaining in regulation. Bo Nix had thrown a phenomenal pass to Marvin Mims Jr., who caught it in double coverage to give the visiting Denver team a chance to win the game.

With overtime rules being what they are in the regular season, where the first touchdown wins the game, playing for it can often expose one to the vagaries of a coin toss. Cincinnati ended up winning that too but the Broncos got lucky that the home team could not finish their drive with a pass or rush into the endzone.

That is why coaches often look for a two-point conversion if they can win in regulation time. Therefore, Payton's decision had Denver fans up in arms on X/Twitter. Here are some of the comments.

The responses were unanimously angry at the Broncos head coach and here are some more sample posts from the social media platform.

"If Sean payton [sic] has a brain Denver is in the playoffs" - fumed one.

"Sean Payton being a coward might end up costing his team a playoff spot" - remonstrated another.

"A coach chose to go to overtime to be conservative and completely failed at being conservative. Just like how he did last week and twice today. F*ck Sean Payton. Thx for Bo tho" - concurred a third.

Broncos HC Sean Payton explains his thinking behind not choosing 2-point conversion vs. Bengals

Sean Payton explained his thinking in the postgame press conference about why he decided not to go for a win in regulation time with a two-point conversion. His rationale was that a failure there would have led to a loss and the Broncos did not need to win this game to make the playoffs. A tie was good enough for them and that influenced his thinking.

"We spent some time thinking about... going for two... We knew a tie, though, was for us just as beneficial as win. We felt like we had the momentum at that point... In the end, we didn't make enough plays. They did." - the Denver head coach said.

With this loss, though, they now need to win against the Chiefs in Week 18 to make it through to the postseason. Kansas City has only lost once this year but the good news for the Broncos is that their opposition might not play their strongest team in the final week after Andy Reid's team secured the top spot in the AFC with a win against the Steelers in their previous game.