Sean Payton has never had a losing season if he was over .500 at any point. Unfortunately he has one kind of losing season.
The 07 Saints and the 14-16 Saints had the exact same 7-9 season, and the Broncos are on the same subpar Sean Payton season trajectory.
2007: Saints start 0-4, they even their record at 4-4 midseason, lose game 9 and never get over .500.
2014: Saints start 1-3, they even their record at 4-4 midseason, lose in OT to the 49ers in game 9 (this was the game where Jimmy Graham’s game winning Hail Mary is called for OPI) and never get over .500.
2015: Saints start 1-4, they even their record at 4-4 midseason, lose in OT to the Titans in game 9 and never get over .500.
2016: Saints start 1-3, they even their record at 4-4 midseason, then lose game 9 to the Broncos via their game winning extra point being blocked and returned by the defense for the Broncos game winning 2 points.
A 7-9 Sean Payton season follows a similar script. The team struggles in September, gets it together midseason, loses the game that will get them over .500 dramatically.
The Broncos this year: start 1-5, even their record at 5-5 midseason, and now we’re at the biggest game of their season. If they can’t beat the 7-3 Browns the Broncos are on the same script.
Their next 4 games are the Browns, Texans, Chargers, and Lions. They could easily find themselves at 5-9 and that would be consistent with the type of bad season Sean Payton has.
For bonus points, even though Payton was suspended in 2012 the Saints still followed the script. Started 0-4, got to 5-5, never got over .500 and finished 7-9.
It's all about beating the Browns at this point. Do that and they're 6-5 and no worse than a game out of the last wild card spot with wins over the Bills and Browns. Lose and they're back under .500 with a 3 game road trip that will realistically eliminate them.
Problem is I think the Browns are a bad match up for us. They just run the ball and play defense and we can't stop the run. I'm terrified of what Garrett is going to do to McGlinchey.