Sean Payton just admitted his two regrets on the same controversial play

With some more time to chew on it, Sean Payton has some clear regrets about his decision to go for it on 4th down in the Denver Broncos' loss to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game.

Although you hate to beat a dead horse, there's no doubt that the decision to go for it in that particular situation is one of maybe two key moments that led to the Broncos having an end-of-season press conference on Tuesday as opposed to preparing to face the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl LX.

Payton had a very simple situation before him in the moment: Take three points and go up 10-0 at home in the AFC Championship Game with your backup quarterback. For both the decision to pass that up and the play he called, Payton is still kicking himself.

Sean Payton regrets going for it on 4th down, admits mistake in Broncos' AFC Championship loss

Payton was a bit more emphatic at his press conference when talking about the play he called in terms of his regret, but the decision is something the Broncos have been making consistently all year. While having the backup quarterback in the game should have dictated a different process, the Broncos have gone for it every other time they've had the ball in a 4th-and-2 or less inside the 30 throughout this season.

They did not deviate from who they are in that moment, so you can at least respect that.

But once again, the backup QB being in the game should have forced a different strategy and certainly line of thinking. Payton knows that. But he was more upset about the play he called than the decision to go for it in the first place, and then he talked about not getting a measurement before the play.

Payton also noted that he doesn't pay attention to all the criticism over decisions like that, stating that if he paid attention to all of it, "I don't know that we'd be in this position." And that's also a good point. You have to stick to your convictions as a head coach in the NFL, and you're responsible for managing the entire game.

In that moment, Payton was being faced with so many different things all at once:

• Why is there not a measurement?
• What play am I going to call?
• What type of defense are the Patriots showing?
• Do I need to call timeout?
• What do the analytics say?
• What do we like in this situation?
• What's the impact of the weather in the second half of the game?

That's why Payton is paid the big bucks as the head coach, but in that moment, you almost wish he had a chance to delegate one of those responsibilities to someone else, with so much else on his plate. And the one that makes sense to delegate, at least for his part, is what play do you call?

That is a situation where the head coach needs to be the head coach, not fixated on the chess match of what the Patriots are doing defensively vs. what kind of play he should call, but making the right decision given the circumstances.

And we'll see as the offseason transpires what -- if anything -- he's willing to do differently.