By Woodrow Carroll
Thanks to Daniel Carlson’s game-winning 47-yard field goal when time expired in overtime, the Las Vegas Raiders defeated the Los Angeles Chargers, 35-32, and earn a berth in the National Football League (NFL) playoffs. In the process, the Raiders stopped potential conspiracy theorists, likely centered in the Pittsburgh area.
The Raiders and Chargers went the Sunday’s last game of the regular season each with a 9-7 record. Winner makes the playoffs with a 10-7 record. Loser, at 9-8, can start to think about next season. The 9-7-1 Pittsburgh Steelers were lodged in between Raiders and the Chargers in the final standings.
It was pretty good timing! The game between the Raiders and Chargers was the final of the 2021-2022 regular NFL season. And, it was an attention-grabber.
The Steelers were playoff-bound unless the game between the Raiders and Chargers ended in a tie, in which case both the Raiders and Chargers would make the playoffs and not the Steelers. Try to imagine the consternation of Steelers’ fans when the game went into overtime. Two touchdowns in the final five minutes by the Chargers, one when time expired in regulation, made the score tied at 29and it was on to overtime.
There was no quick touchdown in overtime to wrap up the game. Three field goals of 40 yards or more came out of overtime with Carlson’s game-winning kick bringing things to a close.
Both the Raiders and Chargers could have played it close to the vest and let results ride, especially in overtime. They did not and the game was memorable.
• Turn the clock back to 1982. Soccer’s (futbol) World Cup in Spain. Group 2 was composed of West Germany, Austria, Algeria, and Chile in round robin.
One thing you have to remember is that FIFA, world soccer’s governing body, is a proven master at taking bribes and under-the-table payoffs.
However, FIFA‘s game management long has been called into question. The 1982 World Cup highlighted FIFA’s poor organizational skills.
The final match in Group 2 pitted West Germany against Austria. West Germany needed a victory to advance in the tournament. Austria could afford to lose by one or two goals and still advance. After West Germany scored an early goal against Austria, the two teams passed the ball around for the rest of the game with neither team pushing forward on the attack to score a game-winnng goal.
West Germany made it to the championship game of the 1982 World Cup before losing, 3-1 to Italy. Austria was eliminated soon after its fiasco with West Germany.
Although many found fault with the effort by West Germany and Austria, the real blame was FIFA’s tournament organizational skills. It was painfully obvious given the format that something that took place was likely to happen. It did!
• Matt Nagy is out as coach of the Chicago Bears and out is Ryan Pace as general manager. The Bears’ 31-17 loss to host Minnesota brought down the curtain on Nagy’s four-year run with the Bear and the seven-year run by Pace. The loss to the Vikings closed out Nagy’s final year with a 6-11 record and he did leave with an overall record of 34-31 helped by a 12-4 record in 2018, Nagy’s first year. Unfortunately, the Bears’ 12-4 season long will be remembered for the playoff loss to the Philadelphia Eagles when Bears’ kicker Cody Parkey double doinked (upright and cross bar) a potential game-winning field goal in the final seconds.
Winners of two straight games entering the final game, the Bears led the Vikings, 14-0, Sunday before folding. It’s not likely that a victory over the Vikings would have spared Nagy the axe. Still, it would have been nice for Nagy to finish on a positive note.