Costly losses in terms of playoff seeding

[CSKreager]

The games that really could have changed a team's seeding out in a year they didn't reach their goals.

A few examples:

1988 Vikings at Green Bay- against a 2-12 Packers team, a Minny team that had allowed 2 TD's in 5 weeks, outscored opponents 167-26 amidst a 5-game win streak (including 45-3 over the Saints!)... lost 18-6 to a useless Packer team.

That ultimately cost them a shot at a first-round bye. They played Chicago at home on MNF in week 16- a game they won. This basically cost them the 1 seed! They and Chicago could have gone all out for the 1-seed on the final night of the season. Alas.

Would have been very interesting to see how '88 plays out had SF/Philly/maybe Chicago had to travel to the Metrodome considering those late 80s Vikes were a very different team at home compared to away. Amazing to think how from a Vikings/Saints perspective, so many dominoes fell for the 49ers that year. SF could have been playing at Minny or the Eagles instead.

(Sidenote though- had Kevin Butler missed a FG against Detroit that same day with 4 seconds left, both losses cancel out and the MNF finale is still winner-take all.)


2003 Rams- Week 17. Just beat Matt Millen's Lions and you're the 1 seed for the third time in 5 years. They somehow lose to Detroit and Philly steals the 1 seed.

Had they gotten that, they end up playing GB in the divisional round instead of Carolina. The Rams had beaten GB earlier that season and in a playoff game 2 years prior.

(And if we get Carolina/Philly in the divisional instead, that game might have unfolded differently)

[CSKreager]

How about the 1991 Saints losing to 2-8 San Diego despite a 9-1 record?

That cost them a first-round bye (they slipped from #2 to #3 despite being THREE games ahead of Detroit at one point in the standings) and they fell to Atlanta despite winning the only non-49ers NFC West title from 1986-1995.

[BD Sullivan]

How about the 1991 Saints losing to 2-8 San Diego despite a 9-1 record?

That cost them a first-round bye (they slipped from #2 to #3 despite being THREE games ahead of Detroit at one point in the standings) and they fell to Atlanta despite winning the only non-49ers NFC West title from 1986-1995.

In 1987, the Browns lost to the Colts, 9-7, at home. While the Colts were starting to emerge (briefly) as a quality team, this was a game in which the Browns were clearly favored and could do nothing. Thus, they ended up one-half game behind the Broncos and head to Denver for the AFC title game and the infamous "Fumble".

[ChrisBabcock]

More recently, in 2012 the Texans had a 12-2 record and the top seed with 2 games remaining. They lost those last 2 games to playoff teams the Vikings and Colts and fell down to the 3 spot and had to play in the first round... against the always beatable in the playoffs Bengals. A win in either one of those games would have wrapped up the top seed.

[slats7]

Pats losing at Miami in WK 17 two years ago, costing them HFA. Denver would eventually take advantage.

[BD Sullivan]

The 1977 Redskins lost the wild card spot on a tiebreaker to the Bears by losing TWICE to the 5-9 Giants. They lost 20-17 at the Meadowlands in Week 1, then somehow lost 17-6 at RFK five weeks later. Had they won either of those games, they would have been playing in the L.A. swamp and Minnesota would have headed to Dallas six days earlier.

The 1980 Lions had two costly losses: a 10-9 loss to the 5-5 Colts in Week 11, followed 11 days later by their Thanksgiving loss to the Bears: when Chicago scored as time expired to send the game into OT--followed by the Bears' Dave Williams returning the kickoff for a touchdown.

[sheajets]

2001. Jets were up on NE fairly comfortably 16-7 late in the 3rd. Testaverde's INT's helped NE back in and they took advantage. Won 17-16. Later that year the Jets lost a horrible 14-9 game to Buffalo who was 3-13.

Win one or the other and the Jets win the division in 2001. Instead they were a 10-6 wild card who went to Oakland and lost.

[slats7]

1995: Niners lose WK 17 game in Atlanta, allowing Dallas to snatch HFA after beating the Cards.

[Gary Najman]

In 1986 the New York Jets started 10-1 and were atop the AFC standings. Then they managed to lose their last five games (in three of those their opponents scored 45+ points). They managed to host the Wildcard game, were they beat the Chiefs, then they lost at the top-seeded Browns in the classic 2-OT divisional playoff game. If they had managed two victories in their last 5 games they would've had home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

[7DnBrnc53]

2001. Jets were up on NE fairly comfortably 16-7 late in the 3rd. Testaverde's INT's helped NE back in and they took advantage. Won 17-16. Later that year the Jets lost a horrible 14-9 game to Buffalo who was 3-13.

Win one or the other and the Jets win the division in 2001. Instead they were a 10-6 wild card who went to Oakland and lost.

They were up 16-7 late in the third? I didn't know that. If they win that, they are the two seed since they beat the Raiders in Week 17, and they swept the Dolphins (both would have finished 11-5). In the WC round, the Raiders would have been hosting six-seed NE, and the Ravens would have still went to Miami (NE and BAL both would have been 10-6, but Baltimore would have had the better conference record.)

The Ravens beat Miami in reality, and the Raiders would have taken care of NE at home, taking away their first SB run (which would have had huge butterflies. Tom Brady's legacy isn't the same today without the early SB wins. I don't see them winning in 03 and 04 if they don't win in 2001).

In the end, I think you see a Jet-Steeler AFC Title Game, and the Steelers end up winning. However, Kordell gets exposed in the Super Bowl (two costly late INT's by Aeneas Williams and Tommy Polley), and the Rams win 28-21.