Top 10 Worst Late Season Collapses in NFL History

Fun Fact: For just the 1987 NFL Season, the games were reduced from 16 to 15 because of a player strike. If there had been a 16th game for the Chargers, they could've avoided a terrible collapse. After losing their first game, they won 8 straight, and it looked like they would be a contender.

But everything that could go wrong, did. The biggest issue was that they lost their final 6 games, allowing all of their opponents to score at least 20 points in each game. The defense crumbled terribly, and the offense wasn't good either, as they didn't score over 18 points in those 6 games. They finished the season 8-7, which wasn't enough to make it to the playoffs. If they had just one more win, they could've been in. *Sigh* Classic Chargers indeed.

Yes, I am calling them the Redskins because that's what they were called back then. The Redskins were led by head coach Jack Pardee, and they started off pretty well, opening with a 6-0 start to begin the season. But then they lost their next three out of five games against the Eagles, Giants, and Colts. Now they were 8-3, and they seemed good enough. Nope.

Instead, what happened was quite unbelievable. They first lost their next two games to the St. Louis (now Arizona) Cardinals and Dallas Cowboys. Next, they were shut out by the Dolphins with a score of 16-0. You might be thinking, "There's no way they could lose their last two, right?" Wrong! They first lost to the Falcons 20-17, and in the final game of the season, they lost to the Chicago Bears 14-10. They started 6-0 at the beginning and then went 2-8 in the rest of the season.

All I want to say right now is... HOW?!

Well, this was quite embarrassing. The 1993 season started out promising with a 4-1 beginning. But then something happened. Dan Marino ended up with a season-ending injury to his Achilles tendon. But thankfully, their backups Scott Mitchell and Steve DeBerg played well enough for them to go 8-2. They picked up another win on Thanksgiving against Dallas. They were 9-2, and at this point, it would have been just about impossible for them to miss the playoffs. But it happened. I mean, it is a main theme of this list.

They lost their next two games against the Giants and Steelers. And they ended up losing their final three as well. They gave up 47 against Buffalo, 45 to the Chargers, and 33 against the Patriots in overtime. The Bills took the division title, and the Dolphins missed the Wild Card thanks to the Broncos and Steelers.

What happened, Dallas? The previous season, you were one of the top teams in the NFL, and now you collapse like this?! Even though Tony Romo was out for a few games, they kept going and by Week 13, they had a record of 8-4, looking to clinch a playoff spot.

In Week 14, it was a tough loss since they blew a lead and allowed the Pittsburgh Steelers to win (who went on to win the Super Bowl). In Week 15, though, they bounced back against the New York Giants with a 20-8 win and still had a chance. But then in Week 16, they lost a competitive game against the Baltimore Ravens, dropping them to 9-6.

All they needed to do was beat the Eagles, and they were in. But they were crushed by the Eagles in a whopping 44-6 loss. With this loss, the Eagles headed into the playoffs, leaving the Cowboys watching from wherever they usually watch.

Before you make fun of the Steelers, I think all of us Steelers fans deserved enough. I mean, to be honest, we kind of deserved it. So, about this season. The Steelers were not really favorites to win the Super Bowl. Well, we answered them wrong with a whopping 11-0 record, even though we barely won some games, to be for real.

But that feat was quickly forgotten when we dropped three straight to the Washington No-Namers, Bills, and, of all teams, the Burrow-less Bengals. We did thankfully get a win against the Colts, but we rested our starters in Week 17 and lost to Cleveland. Speaking of which, we ended up losing to the Browns in the Wild Card 48-37. Even worse, they let them score a total of 28 points in just the first quarter. At this point, it was all over from there.

I know I might be sounding a little sour, so to all the Browns players and fans, good game.

The 1994 Eagles were led by head coach Rich Kotite, and they looked very promising for the first half of the season. After losing their first game to the Giants, they won 7 of their next 8 games to have a record of 7-2. They weren't a powerhouse, but they found ways to win. The offense was their biggest strength, with stars such as Randall Cunningham, Herschel Walker, and Fred Barnett.

However, they fell very fast. The defense couldn't get going at all, as they allowed 26 or more points a total of 4 times. The same goes for the offense. In 5 of their final 7 games, they scored under 20 points. They lost all of their final 7 games to finish with a record of 7-9, which ended up getting Rich Kotite fired.

If you thought the Cowboys collapse in 2008 was bad enough, here's another that just might be worse! The Broncos didn't really have a good defense, and the rushing wasn't good at all. But with the help of Pro Bowler Jay Cutler and the wide receiver duo Brandon Marshall and Eddie Royal, they made it to an 8-5 record with only three weeks left in the regular season.

All the Broncos needed was one more win or one more loss from the Chargers to win the division. May I remind you, the Chargers were only 4-8. The first game against the Panthers, they lost 30-20. Denver then dropped another loss against the Bills at home, meaning they were 8-7. Even worse, the Chargers won three straight games, also making their record 7-8. They would face each other in a winner-take-all Week 17 match.

The Broncos didn't even show up. The Chargers went lights out on them, and the final score was 52-21. That meant the Chargers were in, and the Broncos weren't.

You know, it's actually amazing how many times the 49ers got so far and fell so short. They were entering the season after the heartbreaking interception thrown in the 2013 NFC Championship. They were Super Bowl favorites under their head coach Jim Harbaugh.

To start the season, they were battling over what record they would have and eventually found themselves at a solid 7-4. That meant they only had five games left to go. But then they fell very, very hard. They first lost 19-3 to their rivals, the Seahawks. Then they lost to the Raiders, which is quite embarrassing since they only won three times that year.

They then dealt with final blows in another loss to Seattle and a surprising loss to the San Diego Chargers. They were 7-8, and at this point, there was no going back. Good news, sort of - they did get a win in Harbaugh's final game with them.

Good job, Pittsburgh, you found yourselves on the list again. Here's a medal. Entering into the 1998 season, the Steelers were coming off a heartbreaking loss to the Denver Broncos led by John Elway. Expectations were pretty high for Bill Cowher, the head coach for the Steelers at that time. In their first 11 games, they had a solid 7-4 record. It looked like they were going to make it to the playoffs, except they didn't.

The brutal collapse first began with an overtime loss against the Lions. Then they lost to the Patriots, you know, before they had Tom Brady. Then it continued with a road loss to Tampa Bay in a sluggish game that had a score of 16-3. They then lost their chances to be in the playoffs by losing to a 2-12 Bengals team. To add insult to injury, they lost to the Jaguars 21-3, making them lose five in a row and finish with a record of 7-9.