Your Call: Is it ever OK to play for a tie?

What’s more fun than second-guessing NFL coaches? Nothing, that’s what. So let’s do it every week, right here. Today: Is it ever acceptable to not play to win?

The scenario

Denver went into Week 17 needing only a tie against Cincinnati to claim a guaranteed playoff berth. On one hand, it seems like an easy decision: If the playoffs are the end goal, do whatever you need to get there, right?

On the other hand: Play to win, always. Leave no doubt, leave it all on the field. That’s the ethos players and coaches live by every day of the year, every year since they strapped on a helmet way back as tots, so why change now?

With just eight seconds remaining in regulation, Bo Nix hit Marvin Mims on a miraculous fourth-down catch. That brought the Broncos to within 24-23, and Denver head coach Sean Payton conceded that he “spent some time thinking about going for two,” and he wasn’t the only one.

“I’m trying to go for two,” Broncos quarterback Bo Nix said after the game. “But at the end of the day, that’s probably not always the wisest decision. But I don’t make the decisions on our team because I would go off straight emotions and what I want to do. They thought it out, processed it and in that case it was better to kick.”

So that sent the game to overtime, and seven-plus minutes later, a tie re-entered the picture. After Cincinnati doinked a would-be game-winning field goal, Denver got the ball back with 2:43 remaining in the game. Cincinnati burned both of its overtime timeouts after Denver’s first two plays; an incomplete pass on third down gave the ball back to Cincinnati after less than 20 seconds of clock burned away.

But what if Denver had gotten a first down on that third down? That would have run the clock down to the two-minute warning and, conceivably, the Broncos could have taken a knee from there to assure a tie and a playoff berth.

The result

Payton later said that simply settling for a tie was “going through his mind,” but instead Denver gained all of two yards on three plays and punted. You give Joe Burrow yet another chance, and he’ll get you soon enough, which he did.

Despite the loss, Denver is still in a favorable position; the Broncos have a 64.9% chance to make the playoffs. A victory — or a tie! — against Kansas City at home next week will clinch a playoff berth; so would some bizarre scenarios even with a loss.

So, in this hypothetical scenario, should Denver have gone for a tie? Your call.