Head scratcher: New Denver coach puts the game not on his $161M QB, but on a 64-yard kick

Denver had a fourth-and-5 at the Seattle 46 with a minute to go, trailing by one. The Broncos had thrown $161 million guaranteed to land Russell Wilson, and you’d have to think it was because somebody in the front office thinks he can pick up fourth-and-5s with a minute to go.

The new head coach they hired, Nathaniel Hackett, let the clock run down to 20 seconds before calling timeout.

That head-scratcher foretold what he was planning to do after the timeout.

Hackett wasn’t planning to go for it; he sent Brandon McManus out to try a 64-yard field goal.

The first attempt sailed wide left, but Seahawks coach Pete Carroll had called a timeout before the kick, giving Hackett a chance to reconsider, try to convert the fourth down, get a little closer.

He left the kicking unit on the field, and the second kick also missed wide left.

The new coach put the game on the foot of his kicker on a lo-n-n-n-n-ng field-goal try instead of in the hands of his franchise quarterback.

“We were right on the line,” Hackett said.

For the record, the kick would have been the second-longest make in NFL history had it gone through.

So, right on the line.

“Brandon gave it his best shot,” Hackett said. “Obviously, I wish we would have gotten a lot closer, it put us in that weird spot because we were in that field goal range. We just made that decision to take our shot there.”

I love Wilson’s comments after the game.

Incidentally, it was his return to Seattle, where he was 104-53-1 in 10 seasons as the QB1, and led the Seahawks to two Super Bowls, including a win in Super Bowl XLVIII.

So, this one meant more than even just his debut with his new team.

Wilson passed for 340 yards and a touchdown, and was reduced to being a spectator on the final play.

Anyway, to what he said:

“We’ve got the best field goal kicker maybe in the game,” Wilson said. “We got there and unfortunately it didn’t go in. I believe in coach Hackett, I believe in what we’re doing, I believe in everything.”

And later: “I don’t think it was the wrong decision.”

What else is he going to say, right?

If he really thinks that, the Broncos handed the wrong guy $161 million guaranteed to be their quarterback, but he doesn’t really think that.

Hackett isn’t going to be long for this job if his instinct is crazy field-goal tries over his franchise QB.