Football Fans Go BONKERS Over the Wildest Regular Season Finish in NFL History: ‘Is It Rigged?’
Photo by Chris Unger/Getty Images
It was definitely the best Week 18 football fans ever witnessed, but Sunday also might have been the greatest regular season finish in NFL history.
The Los Angeles Chargers and Las Vegas closed out the 2021 NFL regular season in unbelievable fashion, with both teams playing against each other for a spot in the playoffs. The loser goes home, the winner advances.
But both teams being able to make the playoffs with a tie added a unique wrinkle to the game, especially as the Pittsburgh Steelers watched from home, needing someone to lose the Sunday Night Football matchup to extend Ben Roethlisberger’s career and ensure a spot in the playoffs.
After the Chargers completed a furious fourth quarter comeback to force overtime, both teams exchanged field goals in the extra period to find themselves tied and staring at playoff berths.
With 38 seconds left in overtime, the Raiders were facing a third-and-four from the Los Angeles 39 when Chargers head coach Brandon Staley called a timeout. The Raiders came out of the break, ran off tackle for the first down and converted a 47-yard field goal range to end the Chargers season, winning the game 35-32 and clinching playoff berths for themselves and the Steelers.
Following the game, football fans were split, with some believing the Raiders were going to just run out the clock and force a tie, had it not been for L.A.’s curious timeout. It was the first time NFL fans almost universally agreed a quarterback should take a knee on the field.
But with four seconds left on the game clock, and quarterback Derek Carr standing in shotgun formation, ending the game with a knee wasn’t realistic. Worse than the controversial timeout, was the Chargers giving up a 10-yard run to set up a game-winning field goal for Vegas.
No one could have scripted the drama any better than the way Week 18 played out on Sunday. And the unbelievable conclusion in Las Vegas shocked football fans to the point where they questioned if the sport was rigged.
We’re big fans of game-winning kicks
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) January 10, 2022
Brandon Staley cost his team the playoffs. Dumbest timeout ever.
— Michael Fabiano (@Michael_Fabiano) January 10, 2022
I can’t believe I’m about to go to bed angry because I didn’t get to see a tie
— Peter Burns (@PeterBurnsESPN) January 10, 2022
I think we had spent so much time talking up the tie (and in that moment hearing about the tie) that by then we, as a football watching society, had convinced ourselves they were Definitely Doing The Tie https://t.co/ghQaC59C3P
— Mina Kimes (@minakimes) January 10, 2022
The fix is in.
— howardfineman (@howardfineman) January 10, 2022
You cannot script the @NFL. Too many players involved.
— howardfineman (@howardfineman) January 10, 2022
This is all rigged for tv ratings
— Joey (@JoeyMulinaro) January 10, 2022
At this point, you have to tie.
You just played for 60 INCREDIBLE, UNBELIEVABLE minutes to prove that you’re not colluding. You did not rig it. You tried your best.
It’s time to tie. Tie, you beautiful bastards. Tie.— Rodger Sherman (@rodger) January 10, 2022
Well, I guess the real tie was the friends we made along the way.
— michael phillips (@michaelpRTD) January 10, 2022
Is it rigged?? Lol
— Mike Wallace (@Wallace17_daKid) January 10, 2022
We talkin about a tie. Not a win. Not a win. Not a win. We talkin about a tie, man.
— Kevin Negandhi (@KevinNegandhi) January 10, 2022
NFL fans every day before today: Games should never be allowed to end in a tie.
NFL fans (outside of Pittsburgh today): If this game ends in a tie it will be the greatest night of sports in history.
— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) January 10, 2022
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