Sean Payton makes jaw-dropping comment about how bad Russell Wilson era was

Everybody in the Denver Broncos fan base knows just how awful the Russell Wilson era was for the team. Of course, part of how awful it was stems from how high everyone's hopes and expectations were for Russ when he arrived in Denver. The Broncos were supposed to basically be acquiring the second coming of Peyton Manning, a star quarterback who was prematurely discarded by his former team and return the Broncos to prominence.

All the Wilson era was in Denver was embarrassing for everyone, especially in 2022. There was hope that dignity could be restored to the franchise when Sean Payton came aboard in 2023, and that's exactly what he did. The Broncos started 1-5 but ended up in the playoff conversation late in the year before completely blowing it on Christmas Eve against the Patriots.

Wilson was benched for the final two games, and the Broncos were forced to make a handful of brutal decisions after the year including cutting Wilson and taking on a whopping $89 million (plus) in overall dead money after all the moves.

And as much as we've seen Wilson talk about how terrible it was in Denver, it's only fair that Sean Payton gets a few jabs in as well. And Payton didn't pull any punches when recently describing the difference between now and last year.

Broncos HC Sean Payton says last year at this time was "misery"

"Obviously we’re still not there yet, and yet we’re a lot closer than we were at this time [at the end of the season]. That was misery, sorrow, drudgery… Give me some other adjectives there… That was brutal. Let’s say that.”

- Broncos HC Sean Payton (via Broncos PR)

If you paid attention all throughout the season to the way Payton talked about Bo Nix as opposed to the way he talked about Russell Wilson in 2023, you can just tell that he's obviously in a much better place personally having his own guy at the quarterback position.

Payton -- like all of us -- had a front row seat to the shenanigans of Wilson with the Broncos in 2022 as a member of the media, and I think the way that whole ordeal was handled rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. Not to put any words in Payton's mouth or anything, but if you go back to some of his comments in the 2023 offseason, you can tell that he planned on some hard coaching for Russ and that the quarterback was going to have to fall in line.

Wilson has made it clear that he felt he was done dirty by the Denver Broncos. He has stated on a number of occasions that the team tried to take away his injury guarantee in his contract and that they did it while he was playing well. The way Wilson was benched late last season didn't sit well with him nor did it sit well with a lot of people in the media world who were previously major detractors of his.

It turned a lot of people on Payton -- for some reason -- when news broke that Wilson was asked to remove his injury guarantee. Coupled with Wilson's benching, people made Payton out to be the villain. But seeing the Denver Broncos' offense take a huge leap forward into the top 10 of the entire NFL with a rookie QB under center only helped prove Payton right more than anything.

And you can tell he feels a huge weight lifted off his shoulders.