Nov 4, 2018; Denver, CO, USA; Denver Broncos head coach Vance Joseph motions in the third quarter against the Houston Texans at Broncos Stadium at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

This Weekend in NFL Stupid highlights the dumbest moments and decisions in football throughout the season. Coming out of Week 9, we’re focusing on Denver Broncos game-management-challenged head coach Vance Joseph.

The stupidest of the stupid

It’s becoming an epidemic. Happens practically every week, even as coaches continue to get burned. Driving late in need of a field goal, they hit the point on the field at which their placekicker can feasibly strike a successful kick… and then they stop trying to gain yardage.

The latest culprit? Joseph, whose Broncos reached the Houston Texans’ 32-yard line with around 40 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, down by two. But instead of pressing to make things easier on kicker Brandon McManus, they let the clock run down, centered the ball with a run up the middle, used their last timeout with three seconds remaining and forced McManus to attempt a 50-yarder.

“Our field-goal line was the 35-yard line. We got to the 33,” Joseph later said. “So, at that point, yardage-wise we were good.”

Dude, ever heard of percentages? 50-yard field goals are good about 60 percent of the time, but 40-yarders are good about 80 percent of the time. Not running a safe play or two in an attempt to increase your odds by 20-40 percent is insane.

Bad karma, too.

Lightning round

Dumbest decision of Matthew Stafford’s career?

Patrick Mahomes tried to stopped an already-stopped clock with a spike, for which he was penalized.

Is Joe Flacco being serious?

Final stupid word

Not done with Joseph, who hilariously attempted a 62-yard field goal with plenty of time on the clock late in the first half. The kick missed, allowing Houston to take advantage of a short field and move into field-goal range. Joseph then tried to freeze the Texans kicker, which is a ridiculous thing to do at the end of a half. It didn’t work and the Texans walked away with three bonus points before halftime.

We’ll let Texans head coach Bill O’Brien play us out…

About Brad Gagnon

Brad Gagnon has been passionate about both sports and mass media since he was in diapers -- a passion that won't die until he's in them again. Based in Toronto, he's worked as a national NFL blog editor at theScore.com, a producer and writer at theScore Television Network and a host, reporter and play-by-play voice at Rogers TV. His work has also appeared at CBSSports.com, Deadspin, FoxSports.com, The Guardian, The Hockey News and elsewhere at Comeback Media, but his day gig has him covering the NFL nationally for Bleacher Report.