To put it nicely, Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton is someone who is not liked by the entire Minnesota Vikings fan base. The former longtime head coach of the New Orleans Saints has always seemed to find a way for Vikings fans to despise almost everything about him.
Unsurprisingly, Payton shared something during a recent press conference that seemed like an attempt to troll Minnesota fans. Instead, he wound up making himself sound like a complete fool.
Sean Payton admits he baited Minnesota forcing them to trade up for JJ McCarthy pic.twitter.com/UQtDb5CMDc
— Denver Broncos 365 (@DailyBroncos) April 26, 2024
Sean Payton fails, once again, with his attempt to troll the Minnesota Vikings
With a smile on his face, Payton revealed to the local reporters in attendance for the press conference that he took part in pretending that the Broncos wanted to move up in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
While the attempted fake-out by Denver and their head coach is possibly part of the reason why the Vikings decided to trade up from pick No. 11 to pick No. 10 on Thursday night, it resulted in Minnesota getting a quarterback that they wanted in J.J. McCarthy.
Then just two picks later, the Broncos selected former Oregon signal-caller Bo Nix much higher than anyone had anticipated heading into the first night of the 2024 draft.
So, Payton thought it was funny that he tricked Minnesota, a team that isn't even in the same conference as Denver, into trading up for a better quarterback prospect than what the Broncos ultimately wound up with? Wow, great troll job by Payton, he really showed those Vikings.
This attempt is almost as good as when he decided to mock Minnesota's SKOL chant to the fans inside U.S. Bank Stadium near the end of a 2017 divisional-round playoff matchup between the Vikings and Saints.
Shortly after, Payton was made to look foolish once again after Minnesota was able to leave the field with a victory when they completed the "Minneapolis Miracle" play.
Then, of course, there's the other reason why Vikings fans don't like Payton, which is a little thing called Bountygate.
The veteran head coach helped lead New Orleans to a win over Minnesota in the 2009 NFC Championship in which he and other Saints coaches rewarded their players who intentionally injured members of the Vikings during the matchup.
New Orleans went on to win the Super Bowl in the 2009 season, and Minnesota's disappointment from the loss quickly turned into anger after news about the Bountygate scandal was revealed to the public.
Payton wound up getting suspended for the entire 2012 season, but it didn't do anything to make up for the fact that Vikings fans felt that their team was cheated out of a possible Super Bowl win.