The Lions Get A Tie
The Lions have now become the first team since the Browns to finally end a long-lasting losing streak…by not winning. BUT THEY DIDN’T LOSE!
I love ties. We get roughly one per season these days and each one is a masterpiece. What usually makes them so hilarious is that they are frequently between two teams who feel like they are both trying desperately to give the game away. This most recent tie, a 16-16 dumpster fire between a winless Lions squad and the usual playing down to competition Steelers squad, was probably the funniest tie I’ve seen since the 6-6 chef’s kiss between the Cardinals and Seahawks. Aka the greatest game ever played.
The Lions had a chance to win it…then shanked the kick. The Steelers drove the field, got into long field goal range, then fumbled it. It was the kind of game that makes you wonder if you are drunk. Congrats to the Lions, who both avoided going 0-17 and still have a chance to repeat 0-16. The Lions don’t feel like they should be winless and I still feel like they won’t end up as such but they have to actually win something first.
The Steelers went on a pretty nice run of wins but the team feels like they are doing the same thing last year’s team did: beat weak teams, barely, setting up poor expectations for the late-season collapse. On the run of 4 wins before the tie to the terrible Lions, they beat the Broncos (bad!) the Seahawks (Bad, and starting Geno Smith!) the Browns (Alright, though they were extremely injured!), and the Bears (bad! Also controversially!) The week 1 anomaly against the Bills is the only true good win this season so far. The back half of the season looks a lot tougher, with the Bengals, Ravens 2x, Chargers, Titans, Vikings, Browns, and Chiefs. I wouldn’t be surprised if this team finds a way to go 8-8-1.
Lastly, Najee Harris earns points as being this year’s “I didn’t know we could tie” baton holder till the next guy says it after the next tie. Since Donovan McNabb, there’s always been one guy who apparently didn’t know. Here’s to you, guy!
Games like these are why I will ALWAYS defend the NFL’s potential for games to end in a tie. Sometimes neither team deserves the W and we need to accept that.
No Pat Friermuth? His big fumble set up the tie!
And now I 100% believe that Jared Goff drinks Zima.
When I was a kid all I heard about Zima was how gross it was, but by the time I was 21 they didn’t sell it in the United States anymore (it was still going strong in Asia). A few years ago Zima made a comeback in the states so I picked up a six pack for me and my buddies to try and… there’s nothing wrong with it?
I don’t understand. It tastes like watered down citrus soda and alcohol. I didn’t care for it (and neither did my friends), but like THIS is what everybody in the 90s decided was the grossest thing ever? In a pinch I’d rather drink Zima than rotgut bottom shelf liquor. I’d rather drink Zima than cheap wine. I’d rather drink Zima than Mountain Dew with vodka in it. I’d rather have good liquor, or mid priced wine, or an actual cocktail than drink Zima, but that goes for a fair number of things.
I think Zima was just the 90’s equivalent of what Smirnoff Ice, White Claw, and such became. The cheap, bleh college drink that wasn’t beer. Earned a similar rep.
there was a huuuuuge advertising push for it when it came out. that type of drink (not beer, not wine coolers – now, as dave says, hard seltzers and the like) didn’t really exist at the time, they were trying to essentially create a whole new sector for themselves, and it flopped badly. the zima is gross thing was largely by people who probably never drank it. it was a meme before memes were really a thing.
Steelers having a tie probably means that tie breakers won’t affect them, I like ties because they can reduce the number of teams with matching records.
If the Steelers do manage to figure out a way to get to 8-8-1 it will just prove that Mike Tomlin is quite literally allergic to finishing below .500.
Fun Fact: both the Browns’ and Lions’ losing-streak-ending ties were courtesy of the Steelers.
They truly are the slump buster. It took the Browns an extra week to completely get over the hump in 2018. Here’s hoping the Lions can’t pull out a win this week either.
Here’s my take on ties: I don’t like overtime in regular season — too much playing time/injury potential especially in a 17-game season. So either:
1) Just call it a tie after regulation. Would add more excitement by encouraging boldness at the end of games (2-pt conversions, etc); OR
2) Even funnier: If the score is tied at the end of regulation, call it a loss for BOTH teams. Not only would you REALLY motivate teams to do wacky things to avoid tie-ing, there would be some great opportunities for “spite ties” by spoiler teams late in the season…
Option three: develop a convoluted formula that weighs yards gained, penalty yardage, and time of possession to pick a winner. Anything that puts head coaches in the nuthouse sooner is chaos entertainment to me.
“If we pass we might be able to drive for a winning field goal, but if we just run out the clock we’d be in good position to win the formula tiebreaker… decisions; decisions.”
If you don’t want overtime, then one option would be similar to the other football, aka soccer: 3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, no points for a loss.
If you want to discourage people from playing into overtime, you could similarly highly punish teams that play conservatively or a tie; 2 points for a regulation win, 1 point for an overtime win, no points for a loss of any sort.
Definitely don’t do like hockey does where regulation, overtime and shootout wins are all worth 2 points and indistinguishable, and one point for overtime or shootout losses. You could put together a team that absolutely shuts everything down and everything ends 0-0 regulation and then takes 50-50 chances in overtime and shutout, and earn 75% of available points.
Ew, Zima. No wonder Goff isn’t playing this week.
Dave, this is still my favorite representation of what a tie feels like. https://www.thedrawplay.com/comic/the-post-game-emotion-range/
Unrelated but in the very next comic, it appears Dave quite literally predicted the future: https://www.thedrawplay.com/comic/happy-thanksgiving-2/
With how frequent ties have become (like one a season) I don’t understand how players don’t know that you can tie. I can forgive McNabb since there hadn’t been a tie for like 6 years before they did with the next most recent one being a decade earlier. But since 2012 there has been 9 ties including at least one the last three years. Come on Najee!
As a Cardinals fan that tie was a weird swing of emotions for me.
I honestly expected the Steelers tank comic. I thought it the moment I saw the final score.
Sometimes I wonder what would happen if a tie somehow happens in Superb Owl.
Ask Ed Podolak…