Northman
07-12-2016, 12:33 PM
http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/16685483/hall-flameout-25-worst-collapses-sports-history
Im only putting out the ones i remember and there are some doozies.
1. Houston Oilers, 1992 AFC wild-card game (Jan. 3, 1993)
Seemingly, Bubba McDowell had slammed the door on the Bills in Buffalo. When the Houston linebacker returned an interception for a touchdown in the third quarter, few observers could imagine the Bills rallying from a 35-3 deficit. But that's exactly what happened, as the Oilers opened the door to the largest comeback in NFL postseason history with a litany of mistakes. Bills quarterback Frank Reich, filling in for the injured Jim Kelly, rebounded from the interception to throw four touchdowns, including three to Andre Reed. Buffalo kicker Steve Christie kicked the winning field goal in overtime as the Bills outlasted the Oilers 41-38. Afterward, Oilers cornerback Cris Dishman didn't mince words: "It was the biggest choke in history. ... When we had them down, we should have cut their throats, but we let them breathe and gave them new life."
12. Chicago Cubs, 2003 NL Championship Series
Poor Steve Bartman. Some will forever blame him for the Cubs' failure in this series. If you're unfamiliar with the story: Bartman, a fan sitting in the front row on the left-field line of Wrigley Field, deflected a foul ball that possibly could have been caught by Cubs outfielder Moises Alou (http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/_/id/2360/moises-alou) for the second out of the eighth inning of Game 6. Chicago led the series 3-2 and the game 3-0. A catch by Alou would have put the Cubs four outs shy of their first World Series berth since 1945. After the play, the Marlins scored eight runs in the inning and won 8-3. It wasn't Bartman who committed a pivotal error or allowed any of the five base hits that inning, and it's debatable whether the ball would have been caught if it hadn't been deflected by Bartman -- yet he received the obligatory death threats from overzealous fans. Florida won Game 7 the next day and toppled the Yankees in the World Series.
14. New York Knicks, 1995 Eastern Conference semifinals, Game 1
The New York Knicks had a 105-99 lead with just 18.7 seconds left beforeIndiana Pacers (http://espn.go.com/nba/team/_/name/ind/indiana-pacers) guard Reggie Miller (http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/552/reggie-miller) sent them falling into one of the most stunning end-game collapses in NBA history by scoring eight points in nine mind-blowing seconds. Miller began by hitting a 3-pointer. Then he stole the ensuing inbounds pass and dashed back out to the 3-point line, where he wheeled and drained another 3 to tie the game at 105. "We were shell-shocked, we were numb," Knicks forward Anthony Mason remembered years later. "We became totally disoriented." The Knicks still had a few more chances to win, butJohn Starks (http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/804/john-starks) missed two free throws and Knicks center Patrick Ewing missed a 10-footer before Miller was fouled on the rebound. He made both free throws to give the Pacers a shocking 107-105 win, and then he ran off the Madison Square Garden floor yelling "Choke artists!" Asked what he was thinking as he took the second 3-pointer, Miller said, "I wanted to drive a stake through their heart." The Pacers went on to win the series in seven games.
16. Kansas City Chiefs, 2013 AFC wild-card game (Jan. 4, 2014)
Quarterback Alex Smith (http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/_/id/8416/alex-smith) turned in a playoff performance better than Joe Montana ever did in a Kansas City Chiefs uniform. It was better than any playoff performance by Chiefs legend Len Dawson, too. Smith's 378-yard, four-touchdown performance was good enough to help the Chiefs build a 28-point third-quarter lead over the Colts in Indianapolis. But it wasn't good enough to help Kansas City win the game, as the Colts rallied to win 45-44. Only the 1992Buffalo Bills (http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/buf/buffalo-bills) had blown a bigger playoff lead. After Kansas City went up 38-10 early in the second half, the Chiefs' defense allowed touchdown drives of 80, 41, 80, 90 and 80 yards. The Colts didn't even need the whole game to come back, taking the lead with four minutes left. Smith had one opportunity to save the Chiefs. On fourth-and-11 from the Colts' 43, he connected with Dwayne Bowe inside the 20. There was just one problem. Bowe's second foot came down out of bounds, ending the drive. "Sometimes the game speaks for itself," said coach Andy Reid, "so you don't have to say a whole lot."
19. Green Bay Packers, 2014 NFC Championship Game (Jan. 18, 2015)
Some Green Bay fans might have been booking flights to Arizona for Super Bowl XLIX as the clock ticked down. The Packers had completely controlled the defending champion Seahawks in Seattle for 57 minutes. Green Bay had forced five turnovers and led 19-7, with Seattle's only score resulting from a fake field goal trick play. Even when Seattle scored with 2:09 left to make it 19-14, the Packers could have all but sealed it by recovering the onside kick. But when Green Bay tight end Brandon Bostick (http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/_/id/15688/brandon-bostick) couldn't get a handle on the ball, the Seahawks recovered and had new life. Seattle went on to win 28-22 in overtime, only to lose the Super Bowl under similarly heartbreaking circumstances to New England.
22. Northern Iowa Panthers, 2016 NCAA basketball tournament
Upset-minded Northern Iowa led Texas A&M 69-57 with 44 seconds left in a second-round game when the third-seeded Aggies -- desperate for a spark -- resorted to a suffocating full-court press that shoved UNI into the biggest final-minute collapse in NCAA Division I history. At first, the 11th-seeded Panthers could barely inbound the ball in the face of A&M's pressure. Then UNI's players began to lose their composure. In the final seconds of regulation they committed four turnovers, failing to get the ball past even the half-court line, as A&M poured in six baskets during a 14-2 run that forced overtime. After A&M went on to prevail 92-88 in double OT, awestruck Aggies coach Billy Kennedy (http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/52071/billy-kennedy)said: "I've never been a part of a game like that, never saw one. [I] still really don't know what happened."
24. New York Giants, 2002 NFC wild-card game (Jan. 5, 2003)
There they were, lining up for a 41-yard field goal, a chance to avoid the biggest collapse in NFC playoff history. The Giants had redemption in reach after blowing a 38-14 second-half lead against the host San Francisco 49ers (http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/sf/san-francisco-49ers), who rallied for 25 unanswered points in a 16-minute span. But it all went sideways after a low-and-away snap by 41-year-old Trey Junkin, whom the Giants had signed just days earlier. Holder Matt Allen gained control and heaved the ball downfield toward Rich Seubert, a lineman who was an eligible receiver on the play, but 49ers defensive end Chike Okeafor dragged down Seubert before the ball arrived. Flags flew -- but the call went against Giants guard Tam Hopkins for being downfield illegally. Later, the NFL acknowledged that pass interference should have been called, too, and the down replayed due to offsetting penalties. But the Giants never got another chance in their 39-38 loss. "I cost 58 guys a chance to go to the Super Bowl," Junkin said in the locker room. "I'd give anything in the world, except my family at this point, right now to still be retired."
Im only putting out the ones i remember and there are some doozies.
1. Houston Oilers, 1992 AFC wild-card game (Jan. 3, 1993)
Seemingly, Bubba McDowell had slammed the door on the Bills in Buffalo. When the Houston linebacker returned an interception for a touchdown in the third quarter, few observers could imagine the Bills rallying from a 35-3 deficit. But that's exactly what happened, as the Oilers opened the door to the largest comeback in NFL postseason history with a litany of mistakes. Bills quarterback Frank Reich, filling in for the injured Jim Kelly, rebounded from the interception to throw four touchdowns, including three to Andre Reed. Buffalo kicker Steve Christie kicked the winning field goal in overtime as the Bills outlasted the Oilers 41-38. Afterward, Oilers cornerback Cris Dishman didn't mince words: "It was the biggest choke in history. ... When we had them down, we should have cut their throats, but we let them breathe and gave them new life."
12. Chicago Cubs, 2003 NL Championship Series
Poor Steve Bartman. Some will forever blame him for the Cubs' failure in this series. If you're unfamiliar with the story: Bartman, a fan sitting in the front row on the left-field line of Wrigley Field, deflected a foul ball that possibly could have been caught by Cubs outfielder Moises Alou (http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/_/id/2360/moises-alou) for the second out of the eighth inning of Game 6. Chicago led the series 3-2 and the game 3-0. A catch by Alou would have put the Cubs four outs shy of their first World Series berth since 1945. After the play, the Marlins scored eight runs in the inning and won 8-3. It wasn't Bartman who committed a pivotal error or allowed any of the five base hits that inning, and it's debatable whether the ball would have been caught if it hadn't been deflected by Bartman -- yet he received the obligatory death threats from overzealous fans. Florida won Game 7 the next day and toppled the Yankees in the World Series.
14. New York Knicks, 1995 Eastern Conference semifinals, Game 1
The New York Knicks had a 105-99 lead with just 18.7 seconds left beforeIndiana Pacers (http://espn.go.com/nba/team/_/name/ind/indiana-pacers) guard Reggie Miller (http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/552/reggie-miller) sent them falling into one of the most stunning end-game collapses in NBA history by scoring eight points in nine mind-blowing seconds. Miller began by hitting a 3-pointer. Then he stole the ensuing inbounds pass and dashed back out to the 3-point line, where he wheeled and drained another 3 to tie the game at 105. "We were shell-shocked, we were numb," Knicks forward Anthony Mason remembered years later. "We became totally disoriented." The Knicks still had a few more chances to win, butJohn Starks (http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/804/john-starks) missed two free throws and Knicks center Patrick Ewing missed a 10-footer before Miller was fouled on the rebound. He made both free throws to give the Pacers a shocking 107-105 win, and then he ran off the Madison Square Garden floor yelling "Choke artists!" Asked what he was thinking as he took the second 3-pointer, Miller said, "I wanted to drive a stake through their heart." The Pacers went on to win the series in seven games.
16. Kansas City Chiefs, 2013 AFC wild-card game (Jan. 4, 2014)
Quarterback Alex Smith (http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/_/id/8416/alex-smith) turned in a playoff performance better than Joe Montana ever did in a Kansas City Chiefs uniform. It was better than any playoff performance by Chiefs legend Len Dawson, too. Smith's 378-yard, four-touchdown performance was good enough to help the Chiefs build a 28-point third-quarter lead over the Colts in Indianapolis. But it wasn't good enough to help Kansas City win the game, as the Colts rallied to win 45-44. Only the 1992Buffalo Bills (http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/buf/buffalo-bills) had blown a bigger playoff lead. After Kansas City went up 38-10 early in the second half, the Chiefs' defense allowed touchdown drives of 80, 41, 80, 90 and 80 yards. The Colts didn't even need the whole game to come back, taking the lead with four minutes left. Smith had one opportunity to save the Chiefs. On fourth-and-11 from the Colts' 43, he connected with Dwayne Bowe inside the 20. There was just one problem. Bowe's second foot came down out of bounds, ending the drive. "Sometimes the game speaks for itself," said coach Andy Reid, "so you don't have to say a whole lot."
19. Green Bay Packers, 2014 NFC Championship Game (Jan. 18, 2015)
Some Green Bay fans might have been booking flights to Arizona for Super Bowl XLIX as the clock ticked down. The Packers had completely controlled the defending champion Seahawks in Seattle for 57 minutes. Green Bay had forced five turnovers and led 19-7, with Seattle's only score resulting from a fake field goal trick play. Even when Seattle scored with 2:09 left to make it 19-14, the Packers could have all but sealed it by recovering the onside kick. But when Green Bay tight end Brandon Bostick (http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/_/id/15688/brandon-bostick) couldn't get a handle on the ball, the Seahawks recovered and had new life. Seattle went on to win 28-22 in overtime, only to lose the Super Bowl under similarly heartbreaking circumstances to New England.
22. Northern Iowa Panthers, 2016 NCAA basketball tournament
Upset-minded Northern Iowa led Texas A&M 69-57 with 44 seconds left in a second-round game when the third-seeded Aggies -- desperate for a spark -- resorted to a suffocating full-court press that shoved UNI into the biggest final-minute collapse in NCAA Division I history. At first, the 11th-seeded Panthers could barely inbound the ball in the face of A&M's pressure. Then UNI's players began to lose their composure. In the final seconds of regulation they committed four turnovers, failing to get the ball past even the half-court line, as A&M poured in six baskets during a 14-2 run that forced overtime. After A&M went on to prevail 92-88 in double OT, awestruck Aggies coach Billy Kennedy (http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/52071/billy-kennedy)said: "I've never been a part of a game like that, never saw one. [I] still really don't know what happened."
24. New York Giants, 2002 NFC wild-card game (Jan. 5, 2003)
There they were, lining up for a 41-yard field goal, a chance to avoid the biggest collapse in NFC playoff history. The Giants had redemption in reach after blowing a 38-14 second-half lead against the host San Francisco 49ers (http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/sf/san-francisco-49ers), who rallied for 25 unanswered points in a 16-minute span. But it all went sideways after a low-and-away snap by 41-year-old Trey Junkin, whom the Giants had signed just days earlier. Holder Matt Allen gained control and heaved the ball downfield toward Rich Seubert, a lineman who was an eligible receiver on the play, but 49ers defensive end Chike Okeafor dragged down Seubert before the ball arrived. Flags flew -- but the call went against Giants guard Tam Hopkins for being downfield illegally. Later, the NFL acknowledged that pass interference should have been called, too, and the down replayed due to offsetting penalties. But the Giants never got another chance in their 39-38 loss. "I cost 58 guys a chance to go to the Super Bowl," Junkin said in the locker room. "I'd give anything in the world, except my family at this point, right now to still be retired."