Broncos' Sean Payton Says He Forgot It Was 4th Down Before Late 1H Timeout vs. Chiefs

Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton is finding new ways to add to what has already been a miserable season for him and the organization.

Payton admitted to making a "boneheaded mistake" because he got the downs confused when he called a timeout late in the first half of the Broncos' 19-8 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday night.

The timeout came after Russell Wilson was sacked by Chris Jones and George Karlaftis on a 3rd-and-5 play with 22 seconds remaining in the second quarter.

Kansas City got the ball back at its own 39-yard line with 14 seconds remaining. Patrick Mahomes completed a pass to Jerick McKinnon for six yards and scrambled for 13 yards to set up Harrison Butker's 60-yard field goal as time expired in the first half to give the Chiefs a 13-0 lead.

The actual outcome for the Chiefs probably would have been the same. They had all three timeouts remaining when Payton called his and used two of them after each play on the drive before Butker's field goal.

But there's also the possibility that Chiefs head coach Andy Reid may have just let the clock run out if Payton did nothing. Mahomes has a history of making things happen with only a few seconds left on the game clock, but the offense wasn't playing well at this point and they wouldn't have necessarily expected to get good field position.

The Broncos helped make Kansas City's decision easier. Riley Dixon's punt only went 29 yards and Riley Moss was called for illegal touching that moved the ball up five more yards to give the Chiefs better field position.

There's also going to be an extra level of scrutiny on everything Payton does after he told USA Today's Jarrett Bell in July that Nathaniel Hackett did "one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL" in Denver last season.

Nothing that happened for the Broncos in this game suggested this one mistake by Payton is why they lost. The offense only scored eight points and gained 197 yards on 10 total drives.

If there is an encouraging sign for the Broncos going forward, the defense allowed just 19 pints. Their streak of giving up at least 380 yards in a game is up to five, but they were able to hold the Chiefs to one touchdown in five trips to the red zone.