The Bills’ burden, and what sticks with the losers of sports’ greatest games

The opening session at the annual NFL owners’ meetings is a celebration of the game. Owners, general managers, head coaches and each team’s traveling party gather in a ballroom for a tone-setting reception that contemplates football’s immensity, the league’s growth, exciting technological advancements and opportunities to evolve.

To help launch this year’s three-day caucus in March and get spirits soaring for the work that lay ahead, a 2021 highlight video was shown to the gathered attendees. And there it was, a sequence that thrilled the world and will be etched forever in NFL lore.

The Kansas City Chiefs’ sudden-death playoff victory over the Buffalo Bills was extraordinary, an all-time showcase in which the lead changed five times inside the two-minute warning and overtime. Buffalo went ahead with 13 seconds left in the fourth quarter on Gabriel Davis’ record-setting fourth touchdown catch from Josh Allen. But the Chiefs managed 44 yards on two plays, leaving enough time to kick the tying field goal. The Bills lost the coin toss, and eight plays later, Patrick Mahomes threw a touchdown pass to Travis Kelce.

Immediately, the game was ranked among the best ever — maybe at the very top — in part because Buffalo was so phenomenal in defeat.

Yet the Bills’ contingent at the swanky Breakers Palm Beach Resort didn’t find rewarding their co-starring role in such a signature moment. Executives and staffers from other teams glanced over at their Buffalo colleagues. There were side-eye acknowledgments of compassion, winces of empathy.

Said one Bills executive: “It was painful.”

At least for now, this will be Buffalo’s burden. Chiefs 42, Bills 36, will be rehashed for generations, and the Bills must live with that until a bigger achievement eclipses it.

Over and over and over, fans will remind them where they were, how they felt, what it meant to experience such an outrageous night. Highlights will pop out of nowhere. Over and over and over, those Bills will be forced to relive the most wrenching defeat of their careers.

So many amazing games include a scapegoat. Scott Norwood’s missed field goal … The ball skipping under Bill Buckner’s mitt … Chris Webber calling a nonexistent timeout … Jackie Smith’s end-zone drop … Stanford’s band clogging the field … The sloppy Soviet giveaway that led to Paul Henderson’s goal … Referee Walt Coleman ruling Tom Brady’s fumble a tuck …

Bills-Chiefs nearly was flawless from an entertainment standpoint. Although defensive breakdowns occurred, they created explosive moments that make broadcast networks drool.

There were no turnovers. Allen connected on 73 percent of his passes, Mahomes 75. Four penalties were committed for 25 measly yards. There were no substantive officiating errors. The two offenses combined to convert 75 percent of their red-zone opportunities and every one of their goal-to-go situations.

At the NFL owners’ meetings in March, when the Bills endured the highlight montage that felt like a dirge, the league passed new rules to guarantee each team at least one overtime possession in the postseason.

The modification, of course, won’t fix the way their promising Super Bowl season died at Arrowhead Stadium in a game so sensational that the Bills and their fans will be forced to relive those 13 seconds forever — if they can’t replace the memories with something more consequential.

They are already tired of addressing the topic. Head coach Sean McDermott refuses to provide insight into the decision to kick deep or defensive breakdowns at the end of the game. Players seem unified in skirting questions about it.

“Everybody wants to talk about that, and it is what it is. It happened. There’s no going back,” Allen said recently. “But if it was three months ago, it might as well have been 10 years ago.”

Those who’ve experienced similar moments attest that a decade of separation might not matter to any substantial degree. Losing an unforgettable blockbuster usually lingers. Motivation can be channeled into something positive or will give way to ghosts.

‘It was such a surreal moment that it ended like that’

Even casual basketball fans recall the final 2.1 seconds.

Grant Hill heaved an overhand pass to the far key. Christian Laettner caught it, dribbled once, faked to his right, spun left and swished the most famous turnaround jumper in March Madness history. Duke beat Kentucky 104-103 in overtime, advancing to the Final Four and winning the 1992 NCAA championship.

“The Shot Heard Round the World,” read Sports Illustrated’s headline nine months later. “A miraculous last-second play lifted Duke over Kentucky in perhaps the greatest college game ever played.”

The first line of Alexander Wolff’s feature: “Where were you when the shot went in?”

Sean Woods was under the basket when Laettner let it go. As the ball dropped from the sky, Woods craned his neck and backpedaled out of the lane, a helpless observer as time expired.

When the shot went in? Woods whirled away from the basket, briefly clasped his hands to his head in disbelief and dropped face-first onto the hardwood, where he lay until a security guard checked to see if he was alive.

“When it left his hands, I was, like, ‘Aw, no … ,’” Woods said. “I was leaning back and saw it fall in. My legs just went out from under me. I couldn’t believe it.”

Three decades later, Woods is forced to relive the defeat whenever NCAA tournament flashpoints are shown. As the sports world chronicled the end of Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski’s career, Laettner’s celebrated shot was replayed often in farewell homages.

“It took me a while to watch the game,” Woods said, “Years and years and years to even watch bits and pieces. But I remember almost every play vividly.”

Few recall what transpired before Hill’s long pass, but moments earlier Woods looked like the savior in a storybook Wildcats victory. He was the one who put Kentucky ahead with 2.1 seconds left in overtime.

Kentucky, emerging from probation, was led by hotshot coach Rick Pitino and featured a young star in sophomore forward Jamal Mashburn, but the team was anchored by a senior quartet known as The Unforgettables. Woods, Richie Farmer, Deron Feldhaus and John Pelphrey remained with the program despite a three-year postseason ban over egregious recruiting violations under previous coach Eddie Sutton.

The Unforgettables knew this would be their lone March Madness run.

Top-seeded Duke, the defending national champion, was playing for its fourth consecutive Final Four berth. Kentucky, with no tournament experience, was seeded second but a 7.5-point underdog.

Impeccable, high-efficiency offenses — similar to Bills-Chiefs — produced a supernova. Duke made 65.4 percent of its shots. Kentucky made 56.9 percent. There were 17 lead changes, five within the final 31.5 seconds, and 16 ties.

“There wasn’t a screwup,” said Woods, now the head coach at Southern University. “Two of the best coaches in the history of the game got their teams to play so purely that there was hardly any coaching involved; we were just playing.

“They would make a big play, and we would make a big play. They would make a big shot, and we would make a big shot. It was just one of those games where it was unfortunate somebody had to lose.”

With 7.8 seconds left, Woods took the inbounds pass from Farmer. Despite being guarded by Duke’s star point guard Bobby Hurley, Woods didn’t think much about giving up the ball. Woods dribbled Hurley into a Pelphrey pick, but all that did was force the 6-foot-11 Laettner to switch as Woods bolted down the free-throw circle to just beneath the line.

Woods’ running, right-hand shot soared over Laettner and Grant Hill, who’d come over to help, and banked in to give Kentucky the lead.

“You lie awake in your room at night, thinking of a situation like that,” Woods said.

Woods’ final college game turned into a nightmare 2.1 seconds later.

Laettner’s final basket completed a perfect night: 10 for 10 from the floor, 10 for 10 from the foul line. It took perfection from college hoops royalty to overcome Kentucky that night.

Woods has tried to convert last-second heartbreak into something positive. Woods feels privileged, he said, to be “part of a game for the ages.” He chats about the iconic ending with curious parents on the recruiting trail. He uses his pain to teach his players life lessons.

“It still hurts, but not to the point where it drives me crazy,” Woods said, “You cope. It’s not a life-or-death situation, but it was the end of my college basketball career.

“Wow, it was such a surreal moment that it ended like that.”

‘One loss isn’t going to kill me’

Thomas Hearns needed 20 seconds to wobble Marvelous Marvin Hagler and just a few moments more to bust open the undisputed middleweight champion’s bald head.

From the opening bell, they stormed after each other in the Caesars Palace ring more than they parried or stalked. Jabs were too trifling; Hagler threw zero. They combined to land 95 power punches in the first round, nearly four times the middleweight average in 1985 and still the division record.

Hagler’s bloody scalp was a problem. Before referee Richard Steele let the third round commence, he inspected the cut over Hagler’s right eye. Hearns soon reopened the gash, causing Steele to pause the action.

The ringside physician had to sign off on any additional carnage, and he did.

So ferocious was the action, so beautifully brutal, that anyone who saw it didn’t quite know what they’d seen until it ended after eight frothing minutes. That’s when Hearns slumped from the ropes onto his left shoulder and then rolled onto his back, his eyes staring blankly into the stage-light rigging above.

The Motor City Cobra, his right hand broken and his legs like toy, rubber snakes, somehow rose to his feet before Steele counted to 10. Hearns, however, could barely stand. The fight was stopped with a minute left in the third round.

He helped author a masterpiece, yet he lost.

“Oh man, that took me some time to get over,” Hearns said from his home in suburban Detroit. “But I wanted to get back out there and show the world, ‘Yeah, he stopped me, but I have the ability to do better.’”

In recent years, Hagler-Hearns has been rated the No. 2 greatest boxing match of all time by Men’s Journal and No. 6 by Sports Illustrated. A rematch would have been a box-office colossus, but Hearns didn’t get a chance to redeem himself.

Hagler fought twice more. He suffered a hotly disputed loss to Ray Leonard in 1987 and became so disenchanted with the sport that he retired, moved to Milan and became an actor.

Hagler “never wanted to fight me again,” Hearns said. “Once was enough. I would have really loved to have had that opportunity to do it again, but he was not willing to talk about it. I wanted to get back out there and show him, show the world that I was going to get him.

“Sometimes, the first one is all you get, and you never get a second chance.”

Unlike so many other athletes who never received a second (or single) shot at glory, Hearns looks back on his performance against Hagler as a blip.

Hearns is better able to reflect on that night with pride when considering he became the first boxer to win world titles in four weight classes and eventually made it five. He owns victories over fellow International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees Pipino Cuevas, Wilfred Benitez, Roberto Duran and Virgil Hill.

“Compared to all the big fights and what I’ve done in the boxing world,” Hearns said, “to lose one does not bring shame in any way. Yeah, I lost a big fight, but I won a lot more than I lost. I know what I’ve done in the boxing world. One loss isn’t going to kill me.”

Hearns is comfortable enough with the memories of losing to Hagler that he’ll gladly sign photographs from the brawl.

It was one of only five career defeats, after all. He won 61 times and fought Leonard to a draw many believe Hearns deserved to win.

“It’s a part of boxing history, a part of my world,” Hearns said with a laugh. “I’ve got to relate to it. If I don’t, then people are going to think there’s something wrong with me.

“So many things happened thanks to what I did in boxing. I worked hard for it. I put the time and effort into it. When you’re a guy who makes things happen, it’s hard to avoid setbacks.”

‘I wanted to win, but it wasn’t my time to win’

In perhaps baseball’s greatest game, Rajai Davis generated the most astonishing moment, so improbable that he credits divine intervention.

Game 7 of the 2016 World Series determined whether the Chicago Cubs would win their first championship in 108 years or if the Cleveland Indians would win their first in 68. In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Cubs led by three runs. After the Indians’ first two batters recorded outs, the Cubs’ win probability was 95 percent.

But then Jose Ramirez hit an infield single off shortstop Addison Russell’s glove to chase starter Jon Lester from the mound. Chicago summoned flamethrowing closer Aroldis Chapman from the bullpen, and Brandon Guyer hit a full-count double to score Ramirez, drawing Cleveland within two runs.

Up to the plate came Davis, with three hits in his 31 postseason at-bats. Throughout his 14-year career, he averaged a home run every 23.4 games, amassing four times as many stolen bases as he did homers.

“I couldn’t control all those other pieces falling into place, but I am the one who was in that position,” Davis said from his home in New London, Conn. “That was set up by God. I don’t think things just happen like that.”

Chapman got ahead with a 1-2 count. Davis fouled off four pitches to stay alive. On the seventh pitch, Davis hit one between the lines. And the light-hitting center fielder connected well enough. Although 10 other balls that night were struck harder based on exit velocity, although the ball traveled only 369 feet, it cleared the left-field porch for a game-tying home run.

“I went up to the plate with a prayer on my heart,” Davis said. “I asked God to send his biggest angels to help me hit this ball. When he came through, that was amazing. He actually answered my prayer.”

Davis’ faith allows him to navigate what befell the Indians next.

Cleveland entered the bottom of the ninth inning with a 63 percent win probability, but Game 7 went into extra innings. Then a downpour delayed the game for 17 minutes, an act of God. Cubs outfielder Jason Heyward used the interlude to deliver a rousing speech that his teammates lauded for getting their heads straight. Chicago regrouped to score two runs in the 10th.

“In that moment, you can get to a place where you think you’ve won,” Davis said. “You can start taking your opponent for granted, or not take finishing up as seriously. We all saw the deflated spirits of the Chicago fans and the Cubs in the dugout. You can feel like you’ve done it and feel a little like you can take your foot off the gas.

“That was the difference. The Cubs put their foot on the gas and really drove it home, and we didn’t.”

Davis answered again in the bottom of the 10th with a two-out, RBI single, but it wasn’t enough. The Indians lost 8-7.

Davis reached the postseason just two other times and didn’t escape the first round. Now MLB’s senior director of on-field operations, he’s philosophical about getting so tantalizingly close to being a hero for all times.

“God’s will got done,” Davis said. “His will wasn’t for me to win. I wanted to win, but it wasn’t my time to win a World Series.”

The Sporting News and USA Today called it the greatest World Series Game 7. Men’s Journal ranked it the most memorable World Series victory, ahead of Don Larsen’s perfect game, Buckner’s error and the dramatic Bill Mazeroski, Carlton Fisk, Kirk Gibson and Joe Carter home runs.

“What has happened is a lot of people remember me for a positive thing that I’d done in baseball,” Davis said, “Players remind me of that moment, where they were, what they thought. So that moment is still preparing me for what I’m dealing with now and what is to come.

“My story isn’t over. My playing days are over, but my story is not. Because my story isn’t over, we have yet to see what I will do or become. What the plans are for me, we’ll have to wait and see.”

‘You’ll never live it down, but I’m a part of history’

The college version of Bills-Chiefs occurred 15 years ago in Arizona.

Twenty-two points were scored over the final 86 seconds of the fourth quarter of the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, including Oklahoma cornerback Marcus Walker’s interception return up the right sideline to give the Sooners a 35-28 lead over Boise State with 1:02 left.

Six snaps later, on fourth-and-18 from the 50-yard line, Boise State quarterback Jared Zabransky threw a 15-yard completion to receiver Drisan James, who then pitched the ball to teammate Jerard Rabb for the remaining 35 yards to send the game into overtime.

“It just goes to show you that you never can relax,” said Walker, now the cornerbacks coach at Louisiana Tech. “You’ve always got to be on edge.”

Two years ago, the Football Bowl Association ranked Boise State’s hook-and-lateral the second-greatest play or moment in college football history. Listed third was the lightning bolt that ended the game.

On the first play of overtime, Oklahoma running back Adrian Peterson ran 25 yards for a touchdown. Boise State responded with a pair of third-down conversions before facing fourth-and-2 from the 6-yard line. Receiver Vinny Perretta took a direct snap after Zabransky motioned out of the backfield, swept right and tossed a touchdown to tight end Derek Schouman.

Rather than kick the extra point, Boise State coach Chris Peterson kept his offense on the field.

In a trips-right formation, Zabransky took the shotgun snap and faked an empty-handed throw toward the clumped receivers. In his left hand, Zabransky hid the ball behind his back for running back Ian Johnson to snatch for a touch-free dash into the end zone. Johnson soon dropped to a knee and proposed to his cheerleader girlfriend, Chrissy Popadics.

“People always bring up the Statue of Liberty,” Walker said. “They made it famous on us. It’s not fun being on the wrong end of the story, but, hey, I’ve gotten over it. … Well, I still haven’t gotten over it. You’ll never live it down, but I’m a part of history.”

The Fiesta Bowl, which began in 1971 and has staged seven national championship games, called 2007 its greatest offering. Pro Football Hall of Fame scouting executive and NFL.com analyst Gil Brandt ranked the 2007 Fiesta Bowl the greatest college game decided on the final play. The History Channel ranked it the seventh-most “stunning” college football upset.

“Typically, when people recognize my name or find out I played football at Oklahoma, they’ll ask about that game,” Walker said. “I’ll just laugh it off now. It stings as a competitor, but it’s just one of those deals where everybody has seen it. It hurt when it happened, but you just move on.”

Walker, unlike Sean Woods, had another year to chase away the demons as a senior captain. Oklahoma won a third Big 12 title in four years, was ranked as high as No. 3 in the country and returned to the Fiesta Bowl but lost again.

The memories that pop up most frequently, though, are those 2007 highlights.

“It sticks with you because that kind of fire is what got you to that level,” Walker said. “You’re always trying to find ways to get better and do things better than before.

“Whenever I do think about that game, I tend to think about my teammates. There were so many great players on the field that day on both sides. Being able to play with my best friends, we had a chance to go out there and compete in a big-time ballgame. I cherish those moments.”

‘We had chances. Those stick with you, man’

Joe Rose thinks Bills-Chiefs might be the greatest game he’s ever seen.

“I couldn’t even get to sleep that night,” the former Dolphins tight end said. “I was thinking about all the craziness of that game, back and forth. Josh Allen and the Bills didn’t do anything wrong! They just didn’t get the ball in overtime. They would have won it with the coin toss.”

Rose’s praise should carry significant weight. He starred in an NFL epic that always makes the short list of greatest games ever played — and has been hearing about it over the four decades since.

“I get it every week for sure,” Rose said. “Somebody always has a comment. I hear more about that game than I do the two Super Bowls that I lost.”

In the 1981 playoffs, Rose’s Dolphins rallied from a 24-0 first-quarter deficit but lost to the San Diego Chargers in overtime. The game featured Miami backup quarterback Don Strock nearly outdueling San Diego’s Dan Fouts, a punt return touchdown, a hook-and-lateral touchdown, critical turnovers, blocked field goals and exhausted Chargers tight end Kellen Winslow famously carried off the field.

As part of the NFL’s centennial celebration three years ago, various top-100 lists were compiled. No. 2 on the greatest games rundown was “The Catch,” and since Rose is a Northern California native, you can bet he has seen Joe Montana connect with Dwight Clark to ignite the San Francisco 49ers dynasty. The NFL ranked its 1958 championship game the best and slotted the Ice Bowl third. Fourth was Miami’s overtime loss to San Diego.

“I’m matching that game up with our game,” Rose said of Bills-Chiefs. “Those guys are part of history. It’s going down as one of the greatest freaking games of all time.”

After the Chargers stormed to their quick four-score lead at the Orange Bowl, the Dolphins landed some haymakers that would make Hagler proud and went into halftime with the most famous hook-and-lateral touchdown in NFL history: Strock threw 15 yards to receiver Duriel Harris, who flipped the ball to Tony Nathan to run the final 25 yards.

Miami tied the score four minutes into the third quarter on Rose’s second touchdown catch and took a 38-31 lead seven seconds into the fourth quarter. Later, a 14-play Dolphins drive appeared to break the Chargers’ spirit, but Nathan fumbled on second down from the 7-yard line to renew hopes with 4:39 on the clock.

The final seconds were furious. Fouts overthrew Winslow in the end zone, but running back James Brooks swooshed under the pass to tie the score with 58 ticks left. Two plays later, Strock threw an interception to cornerback Willie Buchanan, who then fumbled it back to Miami. Dolphins kicker Uwe von Schamann tried a 43-yard field goal as time expired, but Winslow blocked it.

“We came all the way back, took the lead and were about to go up by more points,” Rose said. “We fumbled the ball, but we had chances.

“Those stick with you, man.”

The first possession of sudden death brought Chargers kicker Rolf Benirschke — perfect inside 30 yards that season, with two career misses — near enough for a 27-yard attempt. He somehow misfired wide left.

A few series later, Miami presented von Schamann with a 34-yard winning opportunity. Leroy Jones blocked that one.

San Diego didn’t fritter its next point-blank chance. Benirschke made a 29-yard field goal 68 seconds away from a second OT period.

The shootout set NFL postseason records for combined points, total yards and passing yards. Winslow set records with 13 catches and 166 yards.

“With the way people talk about the game, you would think we won it,” Dolphins outside linebacker Kim Bokamper said, “because they talk about the excitement, what the stadium felt like, all the different things that went on.”

Bokamper had a big night. His blindside strip-sack of Fouts in the second quarter was recovered by Bob Baumhower at the Chargers’ 39-yard line and led to Rose’s first touchdown. Bokamper broke up a pass to Winslow in the fourth quarter and recorded another sack in overtime.

But, like his teammate Rose, falling to the Chargers pains Bokamper more than the two Super Bowls he lost.

“I still have a hard time watching the Super Bowl,” Bokamper said. “I don’t watch the pregame shows leading up to the game because it keeps poking the bear. I opt out of Super Bowl week.

“But as tough as losing the Super Bowls were, those games like the Chargers annoy me more now. I think we had better teams the two times we didn’t get there than when we did.”

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Everyone interviewed for this story eventually settled on the idea they’re proud to have contributed to his sport’s folklore, even on the losing side.

To lose as the Bills did — with two leads inside the two-minute warning and coming 13 miserable seconds away from victory — elicited empathy from those who’d experienced similar catastrophe.

“In a great game like that, with so many shifts in momentum, somebody’s going to hurt,” Walker said. “There were so many scenarios you wish you could change, you could do differently. You live for those types of games and to be in those types of moments. You want to give your team a chance to win. When you come up short …

“The end of that game just sucked for the Bills.”

The obvious solution for Buffalo is an accomplishment that will outshine its all-time defeat. The Bills might not overcome their collapse unless they advance to the Super Bowl, but their agony might be quite temporary.

“The players will beat themselves up for a while, and the loss sucks,” Rose said, “but if I’m Josh Allen and those guys, I’m feeling pretty good, knowing that we got a damn good team.”

Hearns rebounded from his savage loss, claiming six more world titles over the next six years for a body of work that absorbs any blemish. “Don’t let one setback stop you from being who you really are,” he said. “Keep putting that work in and people won’t remember you for that loss. They’ll remember you for what you continued to do.”

The Unforgettables didn’t get a chance to compete for Kentucky after Laettner’s legendary jump shot, but their legacy was memorialized in Rupp Arena’s dignified rafters. In a surprise ceremony, Kentucky raised banners to honor Woods and his classmates. “You gave your heart, but it just wasn’t meant to be,” Woods said. “Through it all, we’re still remembered as one of the greatest teams in Kentucky history.”

Rajai Davis urged the Bills to be introspective, to use the disappointment at Arrowhead Stadium as a way to seek a deeper mission as an athlete and a human. He insisted losing to the Cubs in Game 7 isn’t necessarily the closest he’ll ever come to being a champion. “My advice is to know who you are,” Davis said. “Why are you there? Why are you doing this? What is your purpose, your plan? If that’s in the plan, then that perceived shortcoming is to mold you into something greater and bring you to a better place.

“When you go through a trial or an obstacle — that can apply to anything in life — it’s designed to propel you and grow you, whether it’s physically or emotionally or financially. You’re not meant to stay in that moment but be propelled to that better place.”

(Illustration: John Bradford / The Athletic; Photos: Wesley Hitt, Gregory Shamus, The Ring Magazine / Getty Images)