When the going gets tough, Broncos coach Sean Payton gets cute.

And football is a game where cute gets you beat.

This 10-7 loss to New England will forever be haunted by words as bitter as the snow that swirled around Payton on a wintry Sunday afternoon.

Take the points, knucklehead.

The Broncos won’t be going to the Super Bowl, because of the worst decision and most horrendous play call of Payton’s career.

And that’s really saying something, because Payton has only sent in about 25,000 plays from the sideline in NFL stadiums since the turn of this century.

But none has been dumber, more arrogant, or too cute for his team’s own good than the pass Payton called on fourth down early in the second quarter of the AFC championship game.

“It felt like a good call,” Payton insisted.

Oh, puh-leeze. Don’t give us that Payton poppycock.

For all his good attributes as a coach, Payton would rather win the argument than the game.

With Broncos backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham nursing a 7-0 lead and Vance Joseph’s defense knocking the socks off MVP candidate Drake Maye, Denver faced a fourth-and-1 situation at New England’s 14-yard line.

Instead of taking the easy three points on a gimme field goal and trusting cornerback Pat Surtain to do the rest, Payton changed his mind on running the ball for 3 feet and instead tried to fool the Patriots defense with a cute pass to running back RJ Harvey.

The result was as messy as Payton’s logic. The play’s wretched design was exceeded only by its nightmarish execution.

“In hindsight,” Payton stammered when I looked him in the eye and asked for an explanation for his misguided thought process, “the initial sub run thought was a better decision.”

Well, duh.

Rather than settling for the smart 10-0 lead, Payton decided to gamble with a quarterback that hadn’t started a pro game in two years and go for the gusto with a snowstorm coming.

Then he watched an awkward fumble by Stidham hand New England an easy touchdown that allowed the visitors a 7-7 halftime tie that felt like a gift.

“There are always regrets,” Payton said.

You ain’t from around here, are you, Mister?

As my favorite weatherman, a Broncomaniac named Chris Bianchi, had been warning his KUSA followers for days, this uncommonly mild Colorado winter was finally going to turn nastier with each passing hour of the AFC championship game.

Did Payton not read the forecast, or have anyone on staff track the radar?

Stupid is as arrogant does.

The stadium turned into a snowglobe housing 76,188 diehards as this slugfest raged on. It was a reminder why the new Broncos stadium on the drawing board should definitely not have a roof. But it also meant there was almost snow way either team was going to score a touchdown.

It was the feet, not the arm, of Maye that allowed the Patriots to plow 64 yards over the course of 9:31 on the opening drive of the third quarter for a 23-yard field goal by Andy Borregales that proved to be the winning score because there was no other score in the second half.

Maybe Payton’s offensive genius is subject to brain freeze in inclement weather.

As the field disappeared under a white blanket, Stidham moved worse than that kid from “A Christmas Story” bundled up in his thick woolies. None of Denver’s five offensive possessions in the second half gained more than 17 yards and the closest thing resembling a scoring opportunity proved to be a 46-yard kick by Wil Lutz that got blocked.

“Sickening, bro,” Broncos linebacker Nik Bonitto said. “To think all we fought through this year, all the games we had to win, knowing we’re definitely the better team, but …”

The worst play call of Payton’s career wrecked Denver.

Late in the fourth quarter, with Maye and the Patriots in victory formation, Nix wheeled down a hallway from a private box in the stadium, pushing a medical scooter that provided a padded seat for his broken right ankle.

As Nix waited for the elevator to take him down five levels to the Denver locker room, he watched the snow swirl and the final seconds tick away on a wall-mounted television.

Nix said nothing, but his body language ached so loudly it hurt. With stone cold eyes, the Broncos’ franchise quarterback slowly shook his head with thoughts of what could have been if not for a fluke injury.

After being at least two giant steps and one year ahead of schedule on a massive rebuilding project, these Broncos fell one field goal short of New England because they could find no traction in the snow.

Hmm, why did Denver not take three easy points before momentum got flipped on its head and the weather grew nastier than a witch’s heart.

On the road to the Super Bowl, there usually has to be heartache before hoisting the Lombardi Trophy, as John Elway and Peyton Manning could both tell these Broncos.

“It’s especially tough because you have zero idea if you’ll ever be back in an AFC championship game,” Denver tight end Adam Trautman said. “Zero idea if you’ll ever make a Super Bowl.”

For more than 25 years, his arrogant obsession to prove he’s the smartest guy in the stadium has too often put ego ahead of the best interest of Payton’s team.

Cute doesn’t cut it when the going gets tough.

Take the points, knucklehead.