NFL Tragedy #3: The Oilers Choke

Most fans had no idea who Frank Reich was.

The previous week, the Houston Oilers had dominated the Buffalo Bills in the last regular season game, using backups to easily beat the Bills starting lineup. At one point in the game, Bills hall of fame quarterback Jim Kelly had his leg twisted in a gruesome fashion, and would not be able to start today.

A week later, in an AFC Wild Card playoff game, Buffalo Bills backup quarterback Frank Reich started for his team.

The proud Buffalo Bills franchise, who at the time had gone to two straight Super Bowls and had been setting attendance records, did not sell out the playoff game.

The game did not start off well. By early into the third quarter, Warren Moon and the Oilers had a 32-point lead, capped off by a Reich interception returned for a touchdown.

This game was over friends.

Except that the Oilers coaching staff decided to play softer zones. The ball started bouncing Buffalo's way, and the Oilers offense started making a lot of mistakes.

Reich began to make the game respectable, then close. In the fourth quarter, Bills fans started coming back to the stadium -- many had left in the third quarter -- to see if the Bills could come back.

The Bills kept scoring touchdowns.

Four of the Bills' 5 TDs came on Reich passes (3 to WR Andre Reed), setting up a dramatic sudden death overtime field goal attempt by Bills kicker Steve Christie.

Christie kicked the 32-yard winning FG creating the best memory a Bills fan could have.

While great for Buffalo, it was without a doubt the worst thing ever to happen to the Houston Oilers. The franchise would move out of town a few years later, and have to watch the same team that move go to a Super Bowl.

To make matters worse, and make Oilers fans more mad at the state of New York, Houstonites seem to have a grudge about the Mets-Astros NL series in 1986. New Yorkers can't seem to remember anything about this, but boy if you bring this up, they will remind you of it.

Sometimes, with all the tragedies that come with it, it makes you wonder why we watch sports.

Numbers seven through ten are here, and number six is here. Number five is here. Enjoy...and try to forget.

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