Yeah, Loomis didn’t push out Payton. That’s ridiculous.
According to Underhill, Payton has had a foot out the door for years. The Colts job. 1-2 others. He always ultimately came back.
But two years ago he was legit burned out and thought it was time. They didn’t come close to pushing him out. In fact, they offered him the chance to take a sabbatical and come back.
The only thing close to “pushing out,” was that Loomis supposedly made it clear that if he resigned, he couldn’t just come back the next year. They had to move forward if Payton wanted to move on. There were rumblings Payton may have been interested in coming back later. But by that point, Loomis felt he needed to stick by what he told Payton (personally, I would’ve taken him back. But that’s because I’m 44 and lived through Ditka, Haslett, etc).
Anyway, the idea that he was pushed out is beyond absurd.