The 2020 Choke Off Winner
The Falcons, man.
If there are two teams that epitomize choking, you’d have a hard time picking any of the other franchises over these two. Especially in recent years. The Lions have been well known as historical failures but since getting an actual talent at QB they’ve instead graduated to a more classic choking instead. They give you hope, then tear it down. The Lions set a record earlier this year for games lost after holding a double digit lead…in a row. That record is six games. Six games in a row, the Lions had a double digit lead, only to lose it. Many of those were spectacular losses, too. The Bears game to open the season being the highlight. If you need a team to fuck it up in the end, you can’t go wrong picking the Lions. No lead is safe.
Unless of course that lead is held by the Falcons. The only team that could really challenge the choking crown and boy howdy can they choke. Because of them the Cowboys have a win they most definitely do not deserve. They also gave the Bears an undeserved win. The Bears have been unprecedented beneficiaries of absolute chokers this season. But of course, this is the Falcons, and we cannot talk about choking without bringing up the greatest chokejob in the history of professional sports. I don’t even have to say it, you know what it is.
Naturally, when you put two similar disasters together, you get a good game. The Lions/Falcons game sure was good. Both teams were coming off wins, the Falcons beat down the floundering Vikings and the Lions smothered the hapless Jaguars. The Lions needed the win more, which usually means loss, but hey, those Falcons! It is exceptionally rare to see the opposing team celebrate a touchdown being scored against them but that’s just what happened. The Lions let Gurley through and Gurley didn’t fast enough to stop himself from scoring and leaving too much time on the clock. Unlike Ahmad Bradshaw in the super bowl, the Falcons were not redeemed. Stafford led a perfect 64 second drive into the endzone for the ages. Falcons lose. Atlanta would have been better off if it stayed burned after Sherman rolled through.
But in reality, the Lions may have lost more. The Falcons are already past the chaos point. They fired the coach and GM and are now just wasting time till the new season. The Lions? They have managed to keep Matt Patricia around yet another week instead of doing the same. Both of these teams are losers in the end, as the natural order has decided.
Is the Atlanta Super Bowl chokejob really the biggest in all of professional sports? Don’t get me wrong it was epic but what other games can truly contend for the crown?
Is the Atlanta super bowl choke job really the biggest in all of professional sports? Don’t get me wrong it was epic but what other games can challenge for the crown?
If you’re looking for challengers to the Falcons’ spectacular collapse in the Super Bowl, here are a few that come to mind (this is by no means a complete list):
NFL:
– ‘93 AFC Wild Card: The Houston Oilers cough up a 32-point lead to the Bills and backup QB Frank Reich en route to a 41-38 loss in OT.
– ‘02 NFC Wild Card: The New York Giants (sorry Dave) squander a 24-point lead to the 49ers, and lose 39-38 after recently-unretired Long Snapper Trey Junkin botches the snap on a potential game-winning FG on the last play. (There was a controversial no-call for pass interference on that last play, but that’s an entirely separate discussion.)
– ‘06, Week 6: The Arizona Cardinals blow a 20-point lead to the Chicago Bears with just over a quarter to play despite not allowing an offensive TD (Honorable mention due to Sexy Rexy’s involvement in this game)
MLB:
– ‘04 ALCS: The Yankees, with a 3 games to 0 lead in the series and 3 more outs between them and the pennant, lose game 4 in 12 innings, then go on to lose the entire series 4 games to 3.
– ‘69 season: The Chicago Cubs waste a 9-game lead in the NL East in the last month-plus of the season, eventually finishing 8 games BEHIND the New York Mets.
– ‘86 WS, Games 6 and 7: The Boston Red Sox piss away a 3-2 series lead to the New York Mets despite leading 5-4 in the 10th inning in Game 6 (the Bill Buckner game) and leading 3-0 in Game 7.
– ‘03 NLCS, Games 6 and 7: Similarly to the above, the Chicago Cubs throw away a 3-2 series lead to the Florida Marlins despite leading 3-0 in the 8th inning in Game 6 (the Steve Bartman game) and leading 5-3 in Game 7.
– ‘07 season: The New York Mets choke away a 7-game lead in the NL East with 2 weeks left to play, losing the division to the Philadelphia Phillies on the last day of the season.
OTHER LEAGUES/SPORTS:
– ‘99 British Open: Jean van de Velde blows a 3-stroke lead on hole #18
– ‘06 US Open: Phil Mickelson blows a 1-stroke lead on hole #18
– ‘66 US Open: Arnold Palmer loses a 7-stroke lead with 9 holes to play, loses ensuring 18-hole playoff
– ‘84 NCAA Football season: #6 Miami (FL) leads Maryland 31-0 at the half, backup QB Frank Reich leads Maryland back to a 42-40 win
– ‘08 NCAA Basketball tournament: Virginia becomes the first 1-seed to lose to a 16-seed, getting crushed by 20 points to UMBC.
However, IMO, the Falcons’ Super Bowl implosion is greater than all of these because of the combination of the magnitude of the collapse AND the fact that it happened with a championship on the line.
There was a pretty good recent collapse in the NHL. San Jose was up 3-0 in the opening series L.A., only to lose the series 4-3. L.A. went on to win the Stanley Cup. We also got the Sad Joe Thornton meme for that collapse.
2011 Stanley Cup: Up until that series, every team that started the series with 2 wins went on to win the cup. Vancouver won the first two at home, in fact the first 6 games all went to the home team … and then Luongo completely shit the bed and Boston shut Vancouver out 4-0.
All things being equal, blowing a 3-0 lead is obviously worse than blowing a 2-0 lead, but given the clear home-team advantage that had also been established and the fact that the Cup was in the building, I’d say the Vancouver choke was bigger. If you factor in the magnitude of the ensuing riots in Vancouver vs. those in Atlanta, I’d argue it’s bigger than Super Bowl LI.
You should include the Vikings loss in the 98 NFC championship game. Gary Anderson is perfect all year, and chokes when it counts the most.
That one still hurts.
“You should include the Vikings loss in the ‘98 NFC Championship game…”
That’s a good (bad?) one too, as the Vikings blew a 10-point 4th quarter lead around that miss by Anderson. There are also a number of chokes in hockey (thank you Goober Geiber and Hanky Macgregor) and basketball that I didn’t include only because I don’t really follow those sports.
As much as it pains me as a Packers fan to bring it up, the 2014 NFC Championship Game. With 3:52 left in the 4th quarter, the Packers led 19-7 and their defense had been smothering Russell Wilson all game, holding him to 9 of 22, 10.8 passer rating, 51 net yards, picking him off 4 times, 4 sacks and hadn’t allowed any points. The only Seahawks TD had been off of a fake FG. Then the Packers defense promptly wets the bed and allows a quick TD. Then Brandon Bostick tried to be a hero on an onside kick and the ball bounces off of his helmet and into the Seahawks hands. The Packers D allows another quick TD and suddenly the Packers are down 22-19 with 1:25 left. They get a FG with 14 seconds left to tie it up and the game goes to OT.
The Packers lose the coin toss and the defense promptly lets the Seahawks march down the field and get a third TD in a row. The Packers lose 28-22.
That loss feels somewhat forgotten nowadays even though it was a really, really painful collapse for a team that may have won the Super Bowl that season (they did beat New England earlier that season).
Those NFC playoffs were something else in terms of karma. Dallas beat Detroit off of an extremely questionable no call on a fairly obvious pass interference, then proceeded to lose in Green Bay off of an even more controversial call (Dez caught it! I think? – NFL), and then Green Bay goes into Seattle and loses in downright spectacular fashion, only for Seattle to get picked off at the goal line 2 weeks later by Malcolm Butler.
Now that I think of it, someone needs to make a documentary about that sequence because I don’t think that has ever happened in any sport ever. It’s like every team that lost passed on a curse that affected whoever they lost to in the next game they had to play.
Thank you for the list, surprised you didn’t add any NBA examples – most notably the 73-9 Warriors blowing a 3-1 lead to the Cavaliers in the 2016 NBA Finals. Also the 2016 World Series against the Cubs and Indians with the Cleveland blowing a 3-1 lead of their own.
And if there are any soccer fans out there, my pick for biggest choke jobs in history would include:
PSG-Bacrelona, Champions League Round of 16 (2017)
Ajax-Tottenham, Champions League Semifinals (2019)
Milan-Liverpool, Champions League Final (2005)
Bayern Munich-Manchester United, Champions League Final (1999)
United States-Trinidad & Tobago, World Cup qualifying (2017
You’re welcome for the list. The reason I didn’t include any NBA examples is that I really don’t follow basketball, and so none came to mind quickly. I also don’t follow the Champion’s League very much, though you’re right, I should have included the USMNT’s epic fail against T&T.
’96 Masters – Greg Norman leading by 6 Saturday night. I called it; ask my family.
Still not as big as the Super Bowl.
I think Golden State blowing a 3-1 lead in the 2016 NBA Finals is also pretty high up there
In the 2010 NHL Playoffs, the Flyers were down 3-0 in the series against Boston. They came back to force a game seven. In the first period they ironically went down 3-0 then wound up winning the game (and the series) 4-3.
Watching that happen took me right back to AB in 2011. Good thing Tom Brady was no Matt Stafford. XD I feel for Falcons fans, but they can use a high draft pick, so ultimately I think it’s a major W for them. Not that anybody is going to catch the Jets at this point for the #1.
Dude, are you me in a slightly earlier time zone?? This is the second time I’ve come to the comments to say something (last week about Derrick Henry and Brandon Jacobs) and found you beat me to it! You’re a sharp one, Big Bluberries 🙂
Oh well, I’ll say my piece anyway:
“Unlike Ahmad Bradshaw in the super bowl, the Falcons were not redeemed.”
That’s because the Lions have a good quarterback instead of a system quarterback! Boom, roasted.
Sincerely,
A Giants fan very much not looking forward to Monday night against that kid-kissing sack of shit system QB who landed himself in another great system and gets to pretend he’s actually good for another year despite playing on one of the best rosters with one of the best coaches in the NFL **again**
Yes. Yes, I am. Lol. We can officially start calling it strange when it happens with things not related to Famous Moments in Giants History. XD
Did you watch the clip from “Detail,” where Peyton Manning talked about the “amazing” throw Tom Brady made to Gronk, according to Troy Aikman? Meanwhile, he’s staring down Evans the whole time. Hilarious. XD
https://twitter.com/NFLFilms/status/1321120926067531777
That’s a hilarious clip, but I’m pretty sure Peyton is just cracking jokes. Whenever Brady retires they need to do a show together. 60 minutes of Peyton Manning straight dunking on Tom Brady is must see television imo.
He’s saying it tongue in cheek, sure, but I also think he’s making a legitimate point – there’s a case to be made that Brady isn’t looking at Gronk on that play.
I’d agree, did you hear their zoom call for the Masters, I think, back in June? Peyton was making jokes about Brady’s breaking and entering charges… it was a great bit.
Haha I didn’t. I choose to believe that’s exactly what happened.
Gotta love having 2 retired Manning Bros dunking on Brady with all their free time
At least the Ravens will get julio (if the chiefs get him i will rain HELLFIRE UPON EARTH)
And…the titans got him
I’m not sure if that’s worse
Only the Falcons can score a game-losing touchdown. Yeah I live in Georgia(probably not supposed to say that) but cheer for Michigan Sports teams. Personally, the Falcons should tank for Trevor because the Jets have Sam Darnold and he is actually pretty good. The Jets seriously need to fire their entire front office, including Adam Gase.
The Lions and Wolverines (assuming you watch CFB AND like the Michigan Wolverines) are almost identical to the Falcons and Bulldogs down in Georgia, aren’t they? The professional teams constantly choke in gut wrenching ways and the college teams have consistently great seasons just to get embarrassed by some boogeyman they can never beat for whatever reason.
At least Atlanta has good baseball and soccer
The baseball team is really good but they just blew a 3-1 lead in the NLDS so I don’t think they’re too happy them either.
the falcons tanking wont do anything because theyre the falcons and they will suck no matter what they do
The Bengals managed it too on Sunday, but since the game was back-and-forth it didn’t get as much notice.
Having lived in Georgia for a fair bit, I totally get why everyone down there is fairweather as hell about the Falcons. I can’t imagine investing any sort of time or effort in rooting for a team that is going to completely rip your heart out and spit on it like the Falcons do every season. They really are better off investing that time in rooting for… the Atlanta Braves– no, the Atlanta Hawks? No.. Georgia Tech? Fuck no… The Georgia Bulldogs?
Jesus fucking Christ. At least Detroit had the Red Wings and even the Pistons for a fair bit.
Hey, at least you guys have Atlanta FC. They’re…oh…
Oh trust me, I’m no Georgia sports fan. I can’t even be partial to those teams because I feel like the second-hand embarrassment would be too much to bear. I am wholly convinced that God hates the state of Georgia because there is no other explanation for why any state has had to go through this level of excruciating pain. These teams don’t just lose, they lose in ways that genuinely make you question your life’s choices.
Life is an endless pit of sorrow then you die. all of these gut wrenching losses at least remind me that I can still feel something.
Side note: Anybody who thinks Matt Ryan is what is wrong with this team needs to actually watch a game. The Falcon’s haven’t fielded a defense worth anything since 2012, the highest DVOA since then has been 17th. The joke that we scored a game losing touchdown overshadows the fact we allowed a team, with no timeouts, to score a TD in 64 seconds.
Maybe it’s because I didn’t actually watch the Falcons collapse because I had to rush my dad to the hospital near the end of the third quarter, but it still doesn’t top 18-1 for me
18-1 was pretty embarrassing for numerous reasons but at the end of the day, Patriots fans can just say that the team just had a really bad day during that game, plus they ended up with three more rings anyway because, you know, some guy named Tom Brady.
28-3 is a different level of pain entirely. The Falcons weren’t just tantalizingly close to winning the Super Bowl, they literally won the game. It was over. All they had to do was run the clock out. They didn’t just taste victory, they were already drowning in it… and they lost. They’ve never recovered since, either.
It’s not really the same though. Losing a Super Bowl, while painful and the manner of which was really painful, is something 50 other teams have felt. The 07 Pats lost out on something much bigger. There is only one other undefeated team in the Super Bowl era and no teams in the 16 games era that have done it and if the Steelers don’t manage it this year, I am almost convinced nobody ever will again. The Pats lost to a team they had beaten before and their record-setting offence only scored 14 points after Brady mocked the Giants for saying they’d hold them to 17 points. This is why I think it’s a bigger choke, because of what it represented.
That makes a lot of sense, honestly. I want to argue that 28-3 is worse, but like you said, what 18-1 represents, and everything that went into that game is next level. Definitely the worst choke job in football history.
The real question is how does it rank with the 73-9 Warriors or the 116 win Mariners? I think it’s worse than 73-9 GSW, but those Mariners didn’t even make it to the World Series.
Big picture I guess you would call the 2001 Mariners a choke, but I don’t think it stands among the worst ever. The 2001 Yankees had a starting rotation built for the playoffs: Andy Pettitte, Mike Mussina, and Roger Clemens (a struggling Orlando Hernandez started game 3). They also won 95 games that season, they were no slouches. A disappointing end to the season for sure, but it’s not like they went down to an clearly inferior team.
Bonus trivia: Since 2001, the Mariner…
Haven’t made the playoffs
Have only cracked 90 wins twice (2002, 2003; 93 wins each)
Have had 12 seasons with a losing record, including two 100+ loss seasons (2008 and 2010n 101 losses each)
There were a number of close games that year that could have gone either way. And it’s not like the Patriots had blown out the Giants when they played in the regular season, they only won by 3 points.
And it took one of the craziest plays of all time along with some suspect refereeing get the win. So to me that’s less of a choke and more “any given Sunday”.
It was definitely a strong case of any given Sunday, but still, for Tom Brady to sit up there and laugh like a smug little shit over a Giants player saying they’d hold NE to 17, only to put up 14 in the entire ball game is a pretty bad look. It took 3 Super Bowl wins and 2 incredible 4th quarter comebacks for him to really shake that image, which, when you think about it, I mean god damn, that’s quite a bit to recover from something like that lmao.
I want to say 28-3 is up there, but the more I think about it, the less of a case that I have here. Actually, there’s very little case to be made. No use in arguing it lol.
RIP Matt Ryan 1985-2020
Brazil in the World Cup vs. Germany.