Payton Records 200th Career Win In Defeat of Chiefs

It's always great to defeat a divisional foe and long-time rival, but the circumstances of Sunday's thrilling 28-24 defeat of the Kansas City Chiefs by the Denver Broncos that featured a two-score fourth-quarter comeback and final-minute goal-line stand went way beyond the typical:

• It gave the Broncos possession of first place in the AFC West

• It was Denver's record-tying 15th consecutive win in a one-score game

• It featured quarterback Bo Nix's 15th career game-winning drive most ever for a third-year signal-caller since 1970

• Conversely, it was just the second loss in 82 games for quarterback Patrick Mahomes when the Chiefs were leading by double digits in the fourth quarter

With all of that notable stuff going on, something even more significant almost seemed to get lost: it was Denver coach Sean Payton's 200th career win when considering both regular-season and playoff games combined.

Payton became the 12th coach to record that many triumphs and he did it in 320 games, making him the sixth-fastest to reach the milestone behind Don Shula (286 games), George Halas (287), Curly Lambeau (300), Bill Belichick (307) and Paul Brown (309).

"I've been fortunate to have been a part of a lot of good players and a lot of good organizations, people that make that happen," Payton said after the win, as reported by Susanna Weir of denverbroncos.com. "So, it was emotional. The timing of the game and everything else. … There's nothing like it. I think the little bit of the curse is that I hate losing probably more than I like winning. So, this was a good win."

After cutting his NFL coaching teeth as a quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles, New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys from 1997-2005, he was hired to take the reins of the New Orleans Saints in 2006.

He walked into a unique and trying situation as 2006 was the year the Saints returned to Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina forced them to temporarily relocate to San Antonio, TX, for the 2005 season, with "home" games played there and LSU's Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, LA, during which they went a not-unexpected 3-13.

That didn't stop Payton from a coaxing a 10-6 record out of the 2006 squad, with the unexpectedly successful season ending with a loss to the Chicago Bears in the NFC Championship Game.

That established the level of excellence Payton would bring to a New Orleans franchise that had historically experienced only sporadic success - if any - since entering the league in 1967. In fact, in his 19 years as a head coach, his teams have an average seasonal finish of 1.8 in their division, which is tied with Shula, Belichick, Andy Reid and Mike Tomlin among coaches with 200 or more wins.

Payton's magnum opus in New Orleans, of course, was the 2009 team that went 13-3 - after starting the campaign 13-0 - and won Super Bowl XLIV with a 31-17 defeat of the Indianapolis Colts.

After leaving New Orleans in 2021 and spending the 2022 season in the broadcast booth, Payton returned to the sidelines in Denver in 2023 and immediately began turning around the fortunes of a franchise that had gone an uncharacteristic 44-70 under four different head coaches since winning Super Bowl 50 in 2015.

After an 8-9 2023 season, he has led the Broncos to 10-7 and 14-3 marks with the 2025 season ending in a loss in the AFC Championship Game, while 2026's 6-2 record after eight games has Broncos' fans thinking big again.

It's also likely that Payton will soon find himself in the top 10 in combined coaching wins as Tomlin and Dan Reeves stand directly in front of him with 201, while Marty Schottenheimer has 205 and a really strong end to the season could see him pass Chuck Noll at 209. Beyond that, Paul Brown and his 222 wins lie in wait in the No. 7 position.