“Oh Shit” Moments: 2018 NFL Season Edition

Football is almost upon us. The pre-season has started, fantasy leagues are up and running, and Cleveland fans are once again thinking that this will be their year. But before we get into the thick of the 2019-2020 NFL season, let's take a walk through memory and revisit the 2018 games that made our jaws drop. Here are the top-ten "Oh Shit" moments from the 2018-2019 NFL Season.

10. Fitzmagic is Real

Ryan Fitzpatrick has long been an enigma in the NFL. Sometimes he plays like a quarterback god, slinging the ole’ pigskin around the field like a mixture of Brett Favre and a lumberjack. Other times he looks lost, throwing passes to the other team more than to his receivers. In 2018, nothing was different. Fitzmagic lived for three games, peaking in a 48-40 shootout against Hall of Fame QB Drew Brees. Fitzpatrick threw for 416 yards (!) and 4 touchdowns, with an especially spicy long bomb to Deshawn Jackson. That Saints game started a three week Fitzsanity craze before the journeyman finally regressed back to the mean and became a mortal once more.

9. Ty Montgomery is an Idiot

This game was NSFW for any Bears, Vikings, or Lions fans in the building. The week 8 matchup of the then undefeated Los Angeles Rams and the middling Packers was a storyline hyped up for the entire week. Rodgers and his Packers were on the cusp of falling out of relevancy for the 2018 season. McVay was being lauded as the next Belichick and his Rams were off to a scorching 7-0 start. Both teams battled back from ten point deficits, with the Rams taking a 2-point lead with just over two minutes remaining. The stage was set. Rodgers, with every eye on him, was going to make a statement—“We are not done yet.” And then the Rams kicked off. And Ty Montgomery decided to return the kick. And he fumbled. And the game ended. And the Packers’ season was over. A great game but an even greater “WTF” moment in football lore.

8. Philip Rivers, You Old Gunslinger

What happens when two of the best, hottest teams in football also happen to play in the same division? You get a week fifteen title bout that becomes a glorious pregame for the playoffs. Philip Rivers and his disrespected Bolts traveled to Kansas City to take on the NFL’s golden boy and future MVP Patrick Mahomes and his Chiefs. The Chargers had to claw their way back from not one but two fourteen point deficits before taking the lead on a stunning two point play. Although both teams would eventually be bounced by the Patriots, this was a thriller that we won’t soon forget.

7. God Takes Mercy on the Browns

You know I had to mention this game. After three years of sadness, three years of torture, three years of losing the likes of which the football world has never seen before, God decided to give his mercy to the Cleveland Browns in the form of Baker Mayfield. In a week three matchup between the Horrible Browns and the Mediocre Jets, Sam Darnold got the boys in green up to a 14-0 early lead. Then Browns-starter Tyrod Taylor looked confused and scared until he got knocked out of the game, opening the door for Mr. Baker Mayfield. The cocky kid from Oklahoma came in and delivered, throwing for over 200 yards and kickstarting a comeback that lead to the first Cleveland victory in 635 days. The city rejoiced by drinking free beer. Their savior had arrived.

6. Defense Wins Championships

Well, it might not have been the offensive spectacle that we all wanted, but the Super Bowl was a Bill Belichick special in how to ruin viewing experiences by dominating defensively. After his team was shellacked by the Eagles, Belichick and his defense battened down the hatches and held Sean McVay and the Rams offense to only 3 points. The Pats ran a zone defense for the first time in 2018 and forced Jared Goff to make adjustments he hadn’t previously been forced to make. A late game Gronk touchdown was all the Pats and Brady needed to secure their sixth Super Bowl title.

5. JuJu Lost That Beat

It’s easy to forget just how quickly things can change in the NFL. For nearly ten years, the Steelers dominated the AFC North behind the play of the Three-B’s: Big Ben, Antonio Brown, and Le’Veon Bell. That came to a crashing end in 2018 thanks to money disputes and the New Orleans Saints. After Bell refused to play in 2018, the Steelers had to turn to first year rusher James Conner, who preformed spectacularly. Going into Week 14, the Steelers had control of the division and their own destiny. Unfortunately they had to travel to the Superdome. In an instant classic, the Saints took a late game lead but left enough time for Big Ben to make a hero drive down the field. After completing a deep pass to Brown, the Steelers had a first and ten at the Saints 42 yard line, just eight yards away from a game-tying field goal. Ben got the snap, stepped back, and competed a nine-yard pass to Juju. Unfortunately for all the Steelers fans out there, Juju coughed the ball up and the Saints recovered. Game over, season over, and generation over for the Triple-B Steelers.

4. The Packers Go All In Week One

In retrospect, this week one matchup between the Packers and the Bears should have been a clue for how the season was going to go. Chicago, led by a dominant defense and the freak Khalil Mack, looked untouchable in the first half as they raced to a 20 point lead. The Packers couldn’t get anything going and looked to their QB to do everything, leading to Rodgers being carted off the field before the end of the first half. The Bears were defensive monsters. The Packers were an Aaron Rodgers away from being the 2017 Browns (patent pending).

And then the obvious, but still spectacular, happened. The Packers gave Rodgers some of that “Michael Jordan Secret Stuff,” the QB came back, and orchestrated a 24 point turnaround leading to the win. Although the season wouldn’t go the Packers way, at least they had this game to remember.

3. Defense is for Chumps

The Los Angeles Rams hosted a week 11 matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs that would become an ESPN instant classic. There were passing bombs, long rushing touchdowns, three defensive touchdowns. It was probably Commissioner Roger Goodell’s dream come true to have these two teams duke it out on national television. The Rams eventually got the better of the Chiefs, but only by putting up 54(!) points in the first NFL game of all time to feature two teams both scoring 50+ points. Too bad each of these teams would hit the Patriots in the playoffs, or the Super Bowl may have ended up higher on this list.

2. Drew Brees’ Playoff Woes Part Four: The No-Call

It’s not very often that the entire football world, from diehard fans to casual viewers, agree that a team got screwed. Well that’s what happened in the NFC Championship game. With 1:49 left to play in a tied game, Drew Brees had the Saints in the redzone. A first down would essentially end the game, allowing the Saints to run the clock down to less than ten seconds before kicking a field goal. With a third and ten from the 13 yard line, Brees tossed a floater to TommyLee Lewis that should have been caught for a first down. Instead, Lewis got smashed by a Rams DB in a brutally clear case of pass interference. Except there was no flag. The referees didn’t throw the flag, the game went to OT (after both teams hit late field goals) and the Rams ended up making the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, the backlash was huge and the NFL commissioner had a few months of thinking “Oh Shit” before a new rule change quieted the crowd. Well everyone not living in New Orleans at least.

1. The Double Doink Game

Well shit. This truly was the “Oh Shit” game of the year. After the Eagles lost Carson Wentz, it seemed like their chance at repeating a Super Bowl was over. It took a wild 5-3 finish by Nick Foles to lead the Eagles back to the playoffs where they would meet a defensive juggernaut in the Chicago Bears. Both teams struggled on offense early on, before trading the lead late in the third. With Chicago leading 15-10 with a little over a minute left, Nick Foles completed a 3-yard fourth down touchdown to Golden Tate to take a six-point lead. The Eagles missed the 2-point conversion, giving Chicago the ball and a chance to win the game. Trubisky lead a drive all the way down to the Eagles’ 26-yard line, setting up a game winning 43-yard field goal. What followed is the most “Oh Shit” kick in recent memory. Cody Parkey, the Bears kicker, had a game against the Lions earlier in the season where he hit the upright four times. He was nothing if not consistent. In a game duly dubbed the “Double Doink Game,” Parkey hit the left upright and then the crossbar before the ball finally fell to the turf. Oh Shit. Game, set, match. Eagles move on, Bears go home. Ballgame.