I haven't missed a game despite not writing about football this season. Sundays are vegetable days. I rarely make it off the couch, and thanks to the Redzone Channel, I'm able to see the exciting parts of every game.
Week 18, an addition the NFL made this year, began with math--or the equivalent of it by NFL terms--on who could or couldn't make it into the playoffs. If I heard it once, I heard it a zillion times. The only way the Steelers would be in was to beat the Ravens on Sunday, for Jacksonville to win against the Colts, and for MNF not to end in a tie.
Simple, right?
Nothing about Steelers football is simple.
Jacksonville and Pittsburgh played Sunday at 1:00. The chances of the Jags pulling off a win against the Colts was, well, math, but SLIM. They were 2-12, and while the Colts were 8-8, hardly anyone picked them.
I did!
The Jaguars beat the Colts in week 1, Indianapolis hadn't won in Jacksonville since 2014, and the Steelers needed them to win. It was an easy decision.
And they won! And then Pittsburgh came back in overtime to win against the Ravens!
I mean...
Steelers Twitter fans were chanting about us going into the playoffs, and suddenly all those Debbie Downers who've whined all year had them winning the Super Bowl--before we'd even gotten into the playoffs.
Because...yeah, MNF couldn't end in a tie.
That is a story all its own. If the game did tie, both the Raiders and the Chargers would go to the playoffs, knocking out Pittsburgh. Speculation began Monday morning. Would these division rivals actually agree to tie? That would be like the Steelers deciding to tie with the Ravens. Or the Bengals. Or the Browns.
Uh, no way in hell!
I didn't even consider it. I turned on the game and said, "Yay, go, teams!" I didn't care who won. I just wanted a winner. I read a book while the Raiders took charge in the first quarter. But the Chargers came back and took the lead. Then the Raiders went ahead at half-time. Then the Chargers missed a field goal, made some turnovers, and the Raiders went ahead in the fourth quarter, 29-14, with a little over eight minutes left to play in the game. Everyone in my house went to bed.
I'm not an optimist. I'm a Steelers fan, for god's sake. I stayed up, biting my nails and engaging on Twitter.
With four minutes left in the game, the Chargers on 4th and 21 scored a touchdown, went for two, and got it. Score 29-22. Then the Chargers defense not only sacked Raiders quarterback Derek Carr but stripped him of the ball and recovered it.
What the what?
The Chargers made three first downs on 4th downs. Suddenly I believed the Raiders were allowing a tie with their division rivals. They tied the game 29-29, and it went into overtime.
I couldn't even scream because everyone was in bed asleep. I settled for pacing around the living room. The Raiders couldn't get into the endzone and kicked the field goal. Now, I cheered for the Raiders. It didn't matter. The Chargers kicked their own field goal to tie it again. It came down to the next score or--gasp!--settle for a tie.
Can you imagine Steelers fans? Me? People, I was a wreck. My entire body was shaking. My heart was pounding. I was angry at the thought of these rivals settling for a tie, and I couldn't SCREAM or CURSE OUTLOUD!
Then the game got weird. The Raiders marched down the field into Chargers' territory. At the two-minute warning, they were looking at a 63-yard kick. The Raiders could have just kneeled and let the time run out for the tie, but the theory was that they didn't want to play the Kansas City Chiefs, which is where they would've gone had they tied. I don't know that I buy that theory. Especially since the next sure bet was playing the Bengals in Cincinnati--a team that hasn't won a playoff game in like 123,456,789 years.
But...the Raiders kept playing. Half-heartedly. I mean, the Raiders had nothing to lose. On 3rd and 4th, the Raiders let the clock run. Tick, tock, tick, tock. I thought I would pass out.
What the hell!
But then the Chargers called time out! The Chargers! I still have no clue what they were thinking. At that point, the Raiders were looking at a 57-yard field goal. They didn't seem inclined to kick a damn thing, in my opinion, but who knows? Did the Chargers think they would? Their coach said he called it to have time to get his best defenders against the run onto the field. Hmm...but did the Raiders see it as an insult? Were the Chargers trying to force a FG attempt with hopes for a miss, where they then could snag the ball and run it back down the field?
When sideline reporter Michele Tafoya asked whether the time out changed their strategy, Raiders quarterback Carr replied, "Yeah, it definitely did, obviously."
Uh? Obviously? He did follow that little blip with, "But we knew no matter what, we didn't want a tie," but we will never know what truly was going through the minds of either team.
Instead, the Raiders ran the ball on third down, gained ten, which put them into much better FG range. With the seconds winding down, Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson kicked it through the uprights to seal the win, knocking out the Chargers and pushing the Steelers through.
Pittsburgh's in the playoffs! Am I supposed to go to sleep now?
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