The continued overreactions by fan base and media is embarrassing

This subject pops up frequently.

As a factual matter, Sean Payton quit. He was under contract. By all accounts, the organization desperately wanted to keep him. He decided to leave. Now for some, "quitting" is a moral, not a legal or factual, statement--hence, the resistance by some to the statement that he "quit."

We can debate the reasons that he left, which seems the reason his leaving can be a contentious topic.

I am sure there was some element of mental fatigue. But when leaving, he made clear that he would be coaching again. A year later, he was. Few quitting a job because of burnout proclaim on walking out that they will be back shortly, though with a different company. My opinion is that the principal reason he left is that he did not care for the team's direction, to which he contributed, and knew the team did not have a quarterback. Vince Lombardi stepped down as head coach of the Packers after the 1967 season and remained in Green Bay one more year as general manager before leaving for the Washington Redskins. Lombardi was physically and mentally tired when he stepped down as head coach. But he also knew that the Packers had gotten old and would quickly be a team in decline.

Regarding Sean, one question: If the Saints had picked Mahomes in 2017, would there have been a one percent chance of Payton leaving after the 2021 season?

Again, we can debate whether he should have left--whether he had a moral obligation to the organization not to leave (and given that Benson under pressure from the other owners did not fire him for Bountygate and Payton had been the team's de facto general manager, I would argue that he did) or had fulfilled that moral obligation. But the debate is totally academic. It just doesn't matter.