The Tennessee Titans pulled off a 28-27 comeback road win against the Miami Dolphins in one of two Monday Night Football games this week, but what was particularly notable was how late that comeback took place. The Titans were down 27-13 inside the final three minutes, but then pulled off a touchdown with a two-point conversion with 2:40 left. They then kicked deep and forced a three-and-out, and then picked up what would be the game-winning touchdown with 1:53 left before slamming the door defensively. And that made history on two fronts:
NFL teams down 14 points with under 3 min left had won ZERO of the last 767 games before the Tennessee Titans came back to beat the Dolphins 28-27 on #MNF, per ESPN.
Make that 1-767 …😱🤯 pic.twitter.com/EgZsEpnpHD
— Ben Fawkes (@BFawkes22) December 12, 2023
The Titans trailed 27-13 with less than 3:00 to play then rallied for a 28-27 win over the Dolphins.
Per @TruMediaSports, Tennessee is the only team this century to overcome at least a 14-point deficit in the final three minutes of a game and win in regulation.
— Jason Starrett (@starrettjason) December 12, 2023
It makes sense that there haven’t been a ton of times where teams have overcome a 14-point deficit in the final three minutes to win in regulation, as the more conventional approach to those situations has been to kick single-point converts and play for overtime. But going for two, and going for two early, is gaining in popularity lately. And it certainly paid off for Tennessee here, and made some history for this century.
Although it’s a shorter timeframe, what’s maybe more remarkable is that shift from 0-767 to 1-767 in teams trailing by 14 in the final three minutes since 2016. That goes to illustrate just how rare comebacks of this magnitude this late are in the NFL. We’ve seen them much more frequently at other levels of football, including college and the CFL. But NFL clock rules make a comeback this late very difficult, with this only happening thanks to both impressive play from Tennessee and a meltdown from Miami. And that’s why the Titans became one in 768 here.
[Jason Starrett and Ben Fawkes on Twitter]
