Sean Payton's Terrible Decision-Making Already Screwing the Saints Early vs Vikings

The New Orleans Saints did not have a great first half on offense against the Minnesota Vikings. If not for a 50-yard pass from Taysom Hill to Deonte Harris, things could have been much worse.

Sean Payton has made several mistakes and will need to improve in the second half. The first and most obvious is not using his timeouts to help his team at the end of the half.

Of course, such criticisms are easier in hindsight. But there's never an excuse to hold onto timeouts, especially when you're not performing well and your defense isn't exactly making stops.

Next up came a decision not to challenge the interception return for the Vikings after Drew Brees threw a pass into double coverage. Anthony Harris appeared to be touched before falling down, but Payton didn't challenge and the long return gave the Vikings prime field position to set up a Vikings touchdown. The least Payton could have done was throw the challenge flag just in case because the Saints had three timeouts with just over two minutes remaining in the half.

Finally, the play-calling was questionable at best. Payton refused to commit to the run game in a half when Brees could find no success beyond short passes. That should result in Latavius Murray and Alvin Kamara getting more touches to open up the defense.

The Saints find themselves in a hole and Payton is certainly to blame at the moment.