CRAZY

Yes, I'm a little crazy.  It's 1:00 am and I'm writing this.  

Okay, I'm a little crazy about football.  The NFL season just ended about 45 minutes ago.  The Raiders were playing the Chargers -  Las Vegas against Los Angeles.  Earlier in the day, the Bengals lost a meaningless game to the Browns.  They would not know against whom they would play in the playoff next weekend until this game was decided.  The winner would be in the playoff and the loser would be left out in the cold.  

To further complicate matters, the Pittsburgh Steelers edged the Baltimore Ravens in the afternoon to ALMOST ensure themselves of a spot in the playoffs.  They did it in overtime.  The Steelers ended the season 9-7-1.  Nine wins, seven loses and one tie.

There are 272 games played in the NFL season this year.  As of Sunday evening, a grand total of one (1) of them ended in a tie.   The Steelers were in the playoffs unless the Raiders and the Chargers tied.  If they tied, they would both be in the playoffs.  

I hope your head isn't spinning right now.  Well, their game was tied at the end of regulation time.  The Chargers had a miraculous run; being down by 15 points in the 4th quarter to tie the game.  They went  into overtime.  I don't want to over complicate it but in the overtime, the Raiders kicked a field goal and then the Chargers matched that; so they were still tied.  The Raiders then started driving down the field with just over 2 minutes left in overtime.  It is reported that at one point, they had decided to play for the tie so that they would be guaranteed a spot in the playoffs.  

Now it gets interesting.  The Raiders felt they were doing the right thing for both teams - both would be in the playoffs.  With 38 seconds left, the Chargers called time out.  This was a signal that the Chargers were not playing for the tie and gave the Raiders the impetus to drive forward.  They did and kicked a game winning field goal with 2 seconds left.  

There's more, my internet service went out with 2 seconds left in that game.  YIKES!  If I had hair to pull out, I would have lost a bunch.  

So, here's the result of all that craziness.  The Bengals will play those Raiders in Cincinnati at 4:35 next Saturday.  The Steelers will play the KC Chiefs in Kansas City next Sunday night at 8:30.