Top 10 Costly Individual Mistakes That Caused Their Team to Miss the Super Bowl

Gee, this must've been very gut-wrenching for the Browns. If there was a tracker for the most famous fumbles, this is one of them. The 1987 AFC Championship was actually a repeat of the Denver Broncos and the Cleveland Browns.

They had a shot at revenge, but could they pull it off? During the late 4th quarter, the Browns were down 38-31 and the time was ticking. But there was good news. They had the ball right at the 8-yard line on Denver's side of the field. Last year, they lost because of "The Drive." They were trying their hardest to beat them. Then disaster struck.

Bernie Kosar handed the ball off to their running back Earnest Byner, and he was running to the end zone. Right at the goal line, the ball popped right out of his hands. The Broncos recovered it, which allowed them to have possession of the ball and run the clock out. It sucks to see them lose, but then again, it is the Browns. At least Byner would go on to win a Super Bowl with the Washington Redskins - oop, can't say that anymore.

The Minnesota Vikings have gone through quite a number of heartbreaking losses over the years, but this is probably one of the saddest. Heading into the game against Atlanta, they had star players such as Randall Cunningham, Cris Carter, and Randy Moss.

They were standing at a whopping 15-1 record. After destroying the 49ers, all they had to do was beat the Falcons and they would head to the Super Bowl. With a little over two minutes remaining, the Vikings led 27-20. They decided to go for a field goal on that drive led by their kicker Gary Anderson. Heading into the game, he had not missed a single field goal or extra point the entire season.

But when they needed a good lead, he missed. This gave Atlanta a chance to score, and they did. In the end, the score was tied at 27 and the game headed into overtime. With about three minutes left in overtime, the Falcons scored a game-winning field goal from Morten Andersen. This allowed the Falcons to go on to the Super Bowl (which they lost to the Broncos) and ended the Vikings' super season in a bittersweet way.

It was the chance to go against Tom Brady and the Patriots in the Super Bowl, and it came down to the Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers. It could be described as a messy affair. The quarterbacks Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgers combined for a total of six interceptions.

It was 19-7 Packers in the late 4th quarter, and the Seahawks scored on a 1-yard rushing touchdown to cut the lead by five. All they needed was a miracle. An onside kick! They went for it, but what happened was quite crazy. The Packers' tight end Brandon Bostick was set to recover it and was in position, but the worst thing possible happened for him. He fumbled it.

This caused Seattle to score and go for two, which they made, but the Packers kicker Mason Crosby made it to head to overtime. Wilson threw a pass into the end zone in the extra quarter and went on to win against the Packers. To all the Packers fans on this website (even though I don't like the Packers), I feel bad for you.

NFL legend Brett Favre was playing surprisingly well for a new team, as he guided the Vikings (yes, they are on here again) to a 12-4 record. They went on to play the Saints (yes, them again) in the NFC Championship in 2009.

It was a tight battle, but with 19 seconds left in the game, it was tied 23-23. The Vikings were already in field goal range, but Favre decided to get a little closer so they had a better chance of making it. But he made a big mistake by throwing a game-changing pick to Tracy Porter. This eventually caused the Saints to run out the clock and head into overtime. The Saints won the coin toss and drove up the field to kick a field goal, which went in. New Orleans went on to win the Super Bowl, while Brett Favre realized that his one last chance to win the big game was shattered all thanks to one interception.

It's 2018, and we have a new team on the rise. The Kansas City Chiefs were led by star quarterback Patrick Mahomes, along with other talents such as Travis Kelce, Tyreek Hill, and Dee Ford. They advanced to the Super Bowl to try to be in it for the first time since the 1969 season. They were playing against, of all teams, the Patriots.

But towards the end during a 3rd and 10, Tom Brady threw a pass to Rob Gronkowski. It was intercepted, and it looked like the Chiefs had won the game for good. But there was a problem. There was a flag, and it was on the Chiefs. The penalty was offside and it was committed by the aforementioned Dee Ford. This allowed the Patriots to score a touchdown, but the Chiefs did tie it up, only to lose in overtime. I was pretty mad that Tom Brady went to another Super Bowl, to be honest. You might as well just put Randomator in because at least he has good timing, unlike some of them.

Maybe the Vikings suffered a gut-wrenching loss in 1998, but they did end up winning on a Hail Mary in 2017, which goes by its name as "The Minneapolis Miracle." Case Keenum threw a pass to Stefon Diggs on the final play for them to score a touchdown and win the game.

But let's rewind. With under two minutes left, the Saints kicked a field goal to take the lead by one point. The Vikings then got the ball back to try and charge down the field. They decided to go for a Hail Mary pass since they were too far to kick a field goal. Then, the miracle happened.

When Diggs caught the pass, Saints cornerback Marcus Williams could've made the tackle to stop him, but he dove a little bit too early. This allowed Diggs to make it to the end zone. If he had just timed his dive better, they could've won the game.

The Ravens and the Patriots brawled in an exciting match for a trip to the Super Bowl. Despite New England struggling on offense, their defense did well to stop Flacco and the Ravens from getting too far ahead.

In the 4th quarter, the Patriots were up by 3. The Ravens forced a punt in the final 2 minutes, giving them a chance to take over and possibly win. Thanks to Flacco and his offense, they drove quickly into the red zone. The Ravens decided to go for a game-winning pass to Lee Evans in the end zone.

But he dropped the pass in the corner of the end zone. On the next play, the kicker shanked a game-winning kick and the Patriots won. Even though the kicker missed, Evans could have given them the chance to score a game-winning touchdown.

Ah yes, back to the good old days of the Steelers in the playoffs. When the Steelers went 15-1 and played against the Jets, New York knew they were going to have a hard time. But they kept it close and it was tied 17-17 late in the 4th quarter.

Doug Brien then lined up for a 47-yard field goal to take the lead right around the 2-minute warning. He didn't make it since it wasn't long enough. The next play, Roethlisberger made a pass that was intercepted by the Jets, giving them another chance to win. But Brien missed again, this time very wide.

The game went into overtime and the Steelers ended up kicking a game-winning field goal to move on. Fortunately, this does have a happy ending for the Jets since they cut ties with Brien the next season. It all worked out in the end!

It's 2006, and the most dominant team in the NFL that year was the San Diego Chargers. This was the first season that Philip Rivers was a full-time starter, along with superstars such as running back legend LaDainian Tomlinson and future Hall of Famer Antonio Gates.

They had a 14-2 record and easily made it to the playoffs. All they needed to do was beat the Patriots. And they were doing pretty well. They actually might get the win. They got an answer when late in the game, Marlon McCree picked off Tom Brady... only for him to fumble a few seconds after. Even worse, this was on a 4th down.

The Patriots scored thanks to this and made the two-point conversion to tie it up. They won the game by making a field goal to beat the Chargers by three. To me, this is not surprising because, well, they are the Chargers after all.