Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

We're talking about games that a team should have won but didn't that really should have and really cost them.

Games that a team that didn't quite get over for a while- whether at the beginning or end of the regular season.

I'll start off with 2 examples:

Colts-Saints 1989 reg. season finale- Indy wins, they're in the playoffs. Get blasted in the Superdome. Last time Dickerson's Colts had a shot to do something viable. Didn't really contend until Harbaugh/Faulk years later.

Raiders-Saints MNF 1979- one of the all-time primetime collapses. The Saints had a chance to tie the Rams in a shaky NFC West. Lose 31-0 the following week to San Diego. Had the 1-15 Aints year of 1980. Really didn't get any traction outside of '83 until Mora came around. A game that pretty much was the most haunting Saints loss in their first 20 years as a franchise.

Cardinals loss to Redskins on final week of 1984 season.

Oilers loss to Browns on final week of 1989 season.

Steelers losing to the Giants in the final week of the 1963 season. Last chance for the Buddy Parker team.

Probably Packers' last game in 1983. Forrest Gregg didn't get them over the top and it would be a while before another playoff appearance.

Todd Pence wrote:Cardinals loss to Redskins on final week of 1984 season.

Oilers loss to Browns on final week of 1989 season.

The Cards started out 1985 with a 3-1 record, beating the Browns in Cleveland and scoring more than 40 points against both Cincinnati and Green Bay. Things went south after that as they went 2-10 the rest of the way. It was one of the most perplexing turnarounds of a team I have ever seen. There was no major injury that sent the team down the tubes, and I've always been open to theories about the collapse of the 1985 Cards but I don't think it was losing the 1984 finale to the Redskins.

Browns: Week 13 loss to the Bengals in 1973. They still had a decent shot at the postseason, but lost that and the season finale to the Rams. They collapsed the next year and didn't get back to the postseason until 1980.

Bills: Week 12 loss to the Dolphins in 1975 (Lou Saban's famous "WHY DID WE DO THAT???). Buffalo entered one game behind the Dolphins and tied with the Colts. They lose, the Dolphins lose to the Colts the next week and Baltimore wins the division. I believe the Bills would win a three-way tiebreaker at 9-5. Instead, they collapse the next year and don't emerge until 1981.

BD Sullivan wrote:Browns: Week 13 loss to the Bengals in 1973. They still had a decent shot at the postseason, but lost that and the season finale to the Rams. They collapsed the next year and didn't get back to the postseason until 1980.

Bills: Week 12 loss to the Dolphins in 1975 (Lou Saban's famous "WHY DID WE DO THAT???). Buffalo entered one game behind the Dolphins and tied with the Colts. They lose, the Dolphins lose to the Colts the next week and Baltimore wins the division. I believe the Bills would win a three-way tiebreaker at 9-5. Instead, they collapse the next year and don't emerge until 1981.

That Bills game was in 74. They still won the wild card.

1986 Raiders: Their week 13 loss to Philly was a crusher. They were 8-4, and they had the ball in Eagle territory in OT when Allen fumbled, and it was returned by the Eagles all the way inside the Raider 5. Philly scored and won, sending the Raiders on a four-game losing streak to end the season. They wouldn't get back to the playoffs for four years.

1995 Raiders: Their loss to the Cowboys at home in Week 12 was a big one. Hostetler got hurt, and they ended up losing the rest of their games with Billy Joe Hobert and Vince Evans at QB. After that, they really didn't contend again for five years.

Yes, 2001 would come soon enough not to mention 9-7 just two years later but Thanksgiving 'coin-toss' game vs Detroit could serve as the end of 'Act 1' of Cowher's success in the 'Burgh, bringing forth that very brief slump. Steelers were 7-4 going into that very game just coming off a convincer vs the Jags. 7th straight playoff-berth seemed inevitable at the time despite some bad signs early on (loss at Cincy, getting swept by Titans).

The Jets lost the fake spike game to Miami in 1994. They then went 4-32 in their next 36 games and two head coaches were fired.

If basing recovery on playoff berths, you can say the Jets have yet to recover from losing to the Giants on Christmas Eve 2011. The Jets outplayed the Giants from scrimmage in that game but poor coaching decisions and a few bad plays resulted in an awful loss.

MatthewToy wrote:

BD Sullivan wrote:Browns: Week 13 loss to the Bengals in 1973. They still had a decent shot at the postseason, but lost that and the season finale to the Rams. They collapsed the next year and didn't get back to the postseason until 1980.

Bills: Week 12 loss to the Dolphins in 1975 (Lou Saban's famous "WHY DID WE DO THAT???). Buffalo entered one game behind the Dolphins and tied with the Colts. They lose, the Dolphins lose to the Colts the next week and Baltimore wins the division. I believe the Bills would win a three-way tiebreaker at 9-5. Instead, they collapse the next year and don't emerge until 1981.

That Bills game was in 74. They still won the wild card.

Well, the 75 game in Miami had a major controversy that changed what would have been a dramatic comeback into a crushing loss. After trailing 21-0 at halftime, Buffalo got within three points (24-21) with nine minutes left. Four plays later, Mercury Morris fumbled and Buffalo recovered at the Miami 28--but it was considered a dead ball and Saban predictably lost it. Pat Toomay got flagged for a personal foul for "elbowing" the ref and on the next play, Don Nottingham ran it to the Buffalo one, where Miami picked up the clinching score.