2014 - Dec 28th: Cincinnati Bengals - 17 @ Pittsburgh Steelers - 27
Significance: Winner wins the AFC North, Loser gets the #5 seed
Where Was I: Watching the game with friends at Winberies bar in Princeton
The Game: 2014 was peak AFC North, with the winner of this game getting the #3 seed and the loser the #5 seed. The Bengals were in year four of the Dalton experience, somehow still easily a playoff team but one that was just so set-up to lose games like this. The Bengals were actually winning 10-7 midway through the second quarter, before a Suisham FG to tie it, a Dalton pick turned into a Roethlisberger TD two plays later, and another Suisham FG at the first half gun. They kept it close, but the Bengals were just always a step behind.
The Memory: One of my good friends Birthday is December 28th. He and his extended family of cousins and friends and the like are regulars at a bar in Princeton called Winberies - as our myself and the rest of our friend group. So we were all packed into Winberies, closing down the place with drink after drink, with this game on in teh background. Nothing really notable about this other than it being just a damn good time all around. Winberies will always a have a huge soft spot in my heart.
2015 - Jan 3rd: Minnesota Vikings - 20 @ Green Bay Packers - 13
Significance: Winner wins the NFC North, Loser gets the #6 or #5 seed
Where Was I: Attempting to take a flight from Mumbai to Istanbul
The Game: The Vikings were a great defense, with the last vestiges of Adrian Peterson as a good player. The Packers were a great QB and little else, and even by this tail end of 2015 we were starting to see for the first time some cracks in the Rodgers/McCarthy pairing. The Packers were at home, and favored, but played miserably. The Vikings paired a Peterson TD and a Captain Munnerlyn to go up 20-3 and coast from there on out. Of course, the Packers would end up going further in the playoffs.
The Memory: I was leaving India on this day, on the way to Johannesburg, via Istanbul. I boarded my flight as this game started, and then re-boarded it as it just ended. How does one do this? Well, that's what happens when a flight attendant finds a cell phone in the plane that no one claimed, and with the scintilla of a feeling of foul play, deboarded everyone to sweep the plane. The only really surprising part of this story is that Mumbai airport staff actually did this entire process far quicker than one would think. Still long enough to know how the 2015 regular season ended before we finally took off.
2016 - Jan 1st: Green Bay Packers - 31 @ Detroit Lions - 24
Significance: Winner wins the NFC North, Loser gets the #'6 seed
Where Was I: No idea....
The Game: The Lions were an average at best team when they were 9-4. The Packers were an average at best team, with a great Aaron Rodgers, when they were 6-6. Rodgers made some comments about running the table, and it ended here with them going into Ford Field, and ruining Detroit's dream. Granted, the loser in this game was also assured a playoff spot, which took a bit of heat out of the game, but the Packers went on a 24-3 run after falling behind 14-7, and calmly finished the game off with Rodgers going 27-39 for 300 yards.
The Memory: I have none. Like seriously. The 2016 season was not my favorite in any way - the first psot-Peyton season, with an annoyingly good Patriots team, little else that was truly compelling. If you ever had to ask me when was my NFL fandom at its low point, it was definitely during this season. Which of course culminated then with the harrowing Super Bowl. Let's just move on.
2017: Did Not Hold a Finale
Where Was I: Puerto Natales, Chile (aka, honestly did not know till right now the NFL didn't have a SNF game)
The Memory: Of course I don't have a memory of this game because there wasn't a game. Again, I don't understand this. I guess that there was no real game that would have significant playoff implications for both teams. Or I guess no game that would definitely have playoff implications for at least one team. Anyway, for the second straight year... let's quickly move on.
2018 - Dec 30th: Indianapolis Colts - 33 @ Tennessee Titans - 17
Significance: Winner gets the #6 seed, loser gets eliminated
Where Was I: Tel Aviv (asleep)
The Game: Eleven years after these two played one of the weakest games in this set, they played a far more meaningful one here. Winner would make the playoffs, loser would be eliminated. Perfect. The Colts though ruined some of the drama by winning wire to wire, Taking a 14-0 lead in the second quarter, and always being a step or two ahead of the Titans all game. Andrew Luck never lost to Tennessee in his career, with this being a classic performance for him, going 24-35 for 305 yards. Marlon Mack ran for 119. It was a dominant win.
The Memory: We were in Israel for that Christmas time, and I remember watching some of the Week 17 festivities at a craft beer spot in Tel Aviv named the Dancing Camel. The owners there were from New York. They had a projector screen set-up adn were playing red zone. This specific game would have started at 5am or so local time, so needless to say I did not watch it. I was fairly confident of the outcome to be fair, and for good reason.
2019 - Dec 29th: San Francisco 49ers - 26 @ Seattle Seahawks - 21
Significance: Winner wins NFC West (and #1 seed for SF), Loser gets #5 seed
Where Was I; At home, watching live
The Game: This is it. This is what this SNF Final Game is all about - the perfect match of two division rivals, a great scene, tons of stakes and it resulted in a tackle at the goal line that if half a second later would've given teh Seahawks a TD to win it. The 2019 49ers were way better than the 2019 Seahawks, but someone we were one foot away from the Seahawks winning the division and sending the 49ers to a wild card slot. Even in the game itself, the 49ers led 19-7, before the Seahawks staged theri comeback. Just one yard shoft of what they needed, though.
The Memory: This was just an incredible game to watch - before what was a pretty meh postseason (livened up by a very good Super Bowl). Also what was interesting to me is watching a game like this before the world was about to change completely. All the things that happend over 2019 Christmas into January - February, 2020, is just weird thinking about now. Also, very unrelated, but there's an amazing NFL films version fo the final play taht is just superb. The drama, the intrigue, the importance, and the one yard short.
2020 - Jan 3rd: Washington Football Team - 20 @ Philadelphia Eagles - 14
Significance: Washington gets division with a win, Giants win division with a loss
Where Was I: At home, watching live
The Game: For the first time in a while, we had a Week 17 game that was meaningful for only one team. Worse than that though the team that it wasn't meaningful for was also very bad. It led to a bizarre game where the Eagles started a rookie Jalen Hurts who was not good, and replaced him in teh second half with Nate Sudfeld who was worse. The Football Team won in the end, heading to the playoffs where they would host Tom Brady and the Bucs. The less said about what happened there the better.
The Memory: I watched the game live, not every play to be sure but kept some awareness. What is most meaningful is people losing their minds at the QB shenanigans by the Eagles. Neither Hurts or Sudfeld was good. But many people saw this as the Eagles just throwing the game and giving away the division, wanting Washington to get it over their more-hated rival in the Giants. Of course none of that was true, but it was still such an overblown embarrassment that it cost Doug Pederson his job. Also super funny looking back at this controversy with Jalen Hurts given what he would then become.
2021 - Jan 9th: Los Angeles Chargers - 32 @ Las Vegas Raiders - 35
Significance: Winner gets the #5/#6 seed, loser is eliminated (both get in with tie)
Where Was I: At home, watching live
The Game: Nothing may really top 2019 for a long time, but in terms of pure drama this one came really close, with teh added benefit of the loser not making the playoffs. The Raiders took a 29-14 lead looking calmer and generally just better, as Maxx Crosby abused the Chargers LT and made Justin Herbert's life hell. But then Herbert came alive, especially on the drive to tie the game at 29-29, hitting three straight 4th and 10s with increasingly sharp throws. It led to OT where they traded field goals until a field goal at the gun won it.
The Memory: Like the game above, watching this at home makes it tough to have some specific memory to latch onto. But this game was an NFL Twitter masterpiece, from Herbert's fourth downs, to such interesting analytical and sociological debates around the ending. Both teams would get in with a tie, but if one team won the game then the loser would be out. So it all became a debate of shoudl either team really try in OT knowing they could risk losing. I do remember specific discussion aruond what the NFL would do if each team agreed to just kneel out the entire extra time. Got even more absurd when it hit the two minute warning in OT with teh Raiders at midfield. A tie wasn't even all that crazy an outcome at that time. Anyway, the Radiers did win, got a terrible Steelers team into the playoffs and annoyingly didn't let us all see what Goodell would've done in case of a handshake agreement tie.
2022 - Jan 8th: Detroit Lions - 20 @ Green Bay Packers - 16
Significance: Green Bay gets the 7th seed with a win, eliminated with a loss
Where Was I: At home, watching live
The Game: This is the only occurrence in this time period of a final game where only one team had something to play for and that one team lost. Of course, if you ask Lions players - they had something to play for. Namely, knocking out the Packers. And man did they take that to heart. The Lions defensive line was incredible, pressuring Rodgers constantly. Goff and the offense was good enough. The game climaxed with Rodgers throwing a pick on his last pass as a Packer, and the Lions going for the kill, hitting a 4th and 1 conversion to end it.
The Memory: I was just astounded by this game. I know rivalries matter and the like, but I didn't think Detroit would go into Lambeau in a game that for them meant noting, and beat the Packers. For the dreamer in me, this was such a cool crystallization of what makes football great. I guess in the otehr football this type of result happens as well, but it was so great watching a team with "nothing" to play for take it so seriously to ruin another fanbases life.
