When the Jaguars beat the Colts, 26-11, in the early Sunday slate of games, it wasn’t just the biggest upset in recent NFL history. It also unlocked a very interesting chaos grenade for Sunday night’s game between the Raiders and Chargers. If the Raiders and Chargers tie, they both make the playoffs.
No, really.
Here's something totally bonkers: If the Colts lose to the Jaguars Sunday, the Raiders and Chargers would both get in with a tie. Literally, there would be no motivation for either team to do anything other than kneel it out 15 times each.
— Adam Beasley (@AdamHBeasley) January 3, 2022
Now, would that actually happen? Chargers head coach Brandon Staley recently told Rich Eisen of the NFL Network that he and his team would never do such a thing.
“That is an all-time coffee shop scenario,” Staley said. “I think we all respect the game and the NFL shield and the integrity of this game far too much to be complicit in something like that… This game matters too much to too many people, and we want to play our best and be proud of the result one way or another,” said Staley. “We’re going to do everything we can to go win this game and play the way we’re capable of playing.”
Well, it’s not like Staley is going to come right out and admit the specter of an intentional tie, which brings up all kinds of questions regarding integrity and game-fixing. However, if Staley and Raiders head coach Rich Bisaccia were to agree to this bit of subterfuge, it wouldn’t be the first time in professional sports that two teams played to an intentional tie.
In fact, it wouldn’t be the first intentional tie in NFL history.
