What If......

Continuing with the What If.. series I look at the 1995 AFC Championship game that pitted the Indianapolis Colts against the Pittsburgh Steelers. 

Years before Peyton Manning led the Colts to a Super Bowl win following the 2006 season, Indianapolis made an improbable run in 1995 that almost led them to the Super Bowl.  The team was led by Jim Harbaugh who quarterbacked the Colts to a 9-7 record and a wild card berth.  They beat the San Diego Chargers 35-20 in the Wild Card round for their first playoff win in 24 years and their first since moving to Indy in 1984.  The next week, the Colts beat the #1 seeded Kansas City Chiefs 10-7.  It set up a match-up with the Pittsburgh Steelers.  The year before, the Steelers were upset by the Chargers in the AFC Championship game. 

Harbaugh earned the nickname "Captain Comeback" and nearly led the Colts to victory in this game.  With the ball on the Steelers 29 yard line and Indy down 20-16 with five seconds left in the fourth quarter, Harbaugh threw a Hail Mary pass and the ball came down in a crowd of players in the end zone.  Wide receiver Aaron Bailey had the ball on his chest briefly but the ball fell to the turf and the game was over. 

The Colts were the first #5 seed to advance to the conference title game since the 1990 playoff expansion.  To think that Jim Harbaugh and not Peyton Manning could have led the Colts to the Super Bowl (and maybe even won it).

What if........

Continuing in the series of What if moments takes us to January 8, 2000. Bills and Titans in the AFC Wildcard playoff game.  The Homerun Throwback or Music City Miracle as it is called.  The Bills take a 22-16 late in the fourth quarter and seemingly have the game won. Kicker Steve Christie kicks a short kick and Lorenzo Neal fields the ball. He then hands off to Frank Wychek who then passes the ball across the field to Kevin Dyson who then races 75 yards for the winning touchdown.  The play is reviewed and eventually upheld.  The Titans win the game and subsequently go all the way to the Super Bowl.

The question remains that if the Bills win that game then the Titans don't go on to their miracle run to the Super Bowl.  Some thought the Bills could have gone to the Super Bowl that year. They had a defense that only allowed 229 points (14.3/game) that was second in the league.  A Rams-Bills Super Bowl would have been interesting.  Since then however, the Bills have not made it to the playoffs. 

In that Rams-Titans Super Bowl, if Dyson scores on the final play of the game and is not tackled by Mike Jones of the Rams, that game goes into overtime where either the Rams eventually win or the Titans cap off their Cinderella season with a Super Bowl victory and Kurt Warner never becomes a hero.

Again you wonder, What if..............