Sep 9, 2018; Denver, CO, USA; Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll looks on in the first quarter against the Denver Broncos at Broncos Stadium at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

This Weekend in NFL Stupid highlights the dumbest moments and decisions in football throughout the season. Coming out of Week 2, we’re focusing on some baffling decisions to kick off.

The stupidest of the stupid

Down by five with 2:08 remaining in the fourth quarter, the Steelers kicked off into the Kansas City end zone

This despite the fact the Chiefs had scored 42 freakin’ points. The touchback gave Kansas City the ball at the 25-yard line. A failed onside kick attempt gives an opponent the ball at around midfield. Is it really worth sacrificing the outside chance of recovering an onside kick in order to gain 25 yards for your defense?

I think coaches all too often approach these decisions with the mindset that the game is over if the onside kick fails, but it’s essentially the same result as a deep kick, except the yardage difference. In either case you have to pitch a three-and-out on defense in a situation like that, so why not at least give the onside kick a shot?

In this case, Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers offense never got the ball back in their hands.

Down by seven with 10:13 remaining in the fourth quarter, the Seahawks (sort of) kicked off to Chicago

On the surface this sounds like a perfectly sane decision, but it’s important to consider that Seattle was kicking off from midfield following a Chicago penalty on the touchdown. And they decided to do something unorthodox anyway. Head coach Pete Carroll had Aussie punter Michael Dickson perform a drop-kick kickoff to the one-yard line, which worked like a charm, buried the Bears inside the 20 and created a viral moment.

But if you’re going to do something “zany” there, why not just attempt the surprise or non-surprise onside kick? In fact, coaches should do this pretty much every time they have a chance to kick off from midfield, because even if you fail, your opponent will likely be starting out around the 30- or 35-yard line.

It’s no risk and plenty of potential reward, but it hardly ever happens because NFL coaches aren’t very smart.

Lightning round

Down two scores in the third quarter against Cincinnati, the Ravens threw short of the sticks on back-to-back plays — a 3rd-and-2 and a 4th-and-2. That’s right, Joe Flacco twice failed to throw the ball beyond two yards of the line of scrimmage when that’s all he needed for a first down with the game essentially on the line.

With a rookie kicker who had already missed two field goals, the Vikings could have gotten closer than the 17-yard line late in overtime against the Packers. Instead, they ran the clock down and left timeouts in their back pocket, and this happened…

Down 7-0 early on the road, Giants head coach Pat Shurmur punted on 4th-and-inches at midfield. That bought his team only 35 yards, and the Cowboys scored on the ensuing drive. Oh, and it got weirder in the second quarter, when he panicked and went for it twice in a row in tougher spots.

We live in a world in which this is a 31-yard penalty setting up a 1st-and-goal at the one-yard line…

Final stupid word

If this is technically a penalty, I seriously believe the NFL might as well just make all hits on quarterbacks illegal…

About Brad Gagnon

Brad Gagnon has been passionate about both sports and mass media since he was in diapers -- a passion that won't die until he's in them again. Based in Toronto, he's worked as a national NFL blog editor at theScore.com, a producer and writer at theScore Television Network and a host, reporter and play-by-play voice at Rogers TV. His work has also appeared at CBSSports.com, Deadspin, FoxSports.com, The Guardian, The Hockey News and elsewhere at Comeback Media, but his day gig has him covering the NFL nationally for Bleacher Report.