Mike Tomlin and the Pittsburgh Steelers trailed 36-10 to the Chiefs in the 4th quarter of Week 16 with 2:47 left. The Chiefs had the ball and a first down. The game was over. Patrick Mahomes handed the ball to Derrick Gore for a gain of five. And then it happened. Mike Tomlin called a timeout. This wasn’t a player injured timeout or a “shit we got 12 men on the field” timeout. No, Tomlin wanted to stop the clock. I know this because he would proceed to call all three of his timeouts back to back to back as the Chiefs attempted to end the game with class. Pittsburgh had no chance of winning this game. No hope, no prayer. There is only one explanation for what was happening: these were sad timeouts.
Sometimes you just gotta let it go and take the L. But I get it. The Steelers are a “has been” team right now at the very end of Ben Roethlisberger’s career and probably feeling it while playing the cream de la creme of the conference. It truly was a sad moment that revealed Mike Tomlin’s bitter psyche. And I absolutely respect it. But where in the books does this rank in terms of sad timeouts? The answer is tied for 8th and you better believe we’re about to go through all the sadder timeouts on the list. What better way to celebrate the coming new year than to revisit the saddest timeout sequences in the NFL?
Rules
Ranked in order of deficit, we’re only counting multiple timeout sequences of at least two in a row here – no one offs. These have to be bona fide clock-stopping intended timeouts and I’m capping it at three minutes or less in the game. Also, with one exception, we’re only counting defensive timeouts. I sort of get calling a timeout on offense to end the game with a little pride. It’s not nearly as pathetic. This means that the timeout Lane Kiffin called for the Raiders in Week 16, 2007 vs the Jaguars while down 49-3 with a healthy :15 ticks left does not count here. I totally get you want to try to end on a high note and give your young quarterback confidence. Chess not checkers. This led not only to a JaMarcus Russell touchdown pass after the timeout, but a successful two-point conversion pass completion as well. Sure, they didn’t win the game, but it gave the rookie QB the momentum he needed to be a starter for literally multiple years.
8B
Week 4, 2011: John Fox (Denver Broncos)
Losing 49-23
We already covered the 8A 2021 Week 16 Steelers. As for 8B, if you thought John Fox wasn’t making a list of timeout mismanagement you might want to re-evaluate your life. The first timeout came with 2:53 left after an eight-yard run by the Packers. Fox would call another timeout but was able to save his third after his defense intercepted Matt Flynn on third down. This allowed Kyle Orton to come in for the Broncos and throw an interception of his own.
7
Week 3, 2002: Dick LeBeau (Cincinnati Bengals)
Losing 30-3
Backup QB Doug Johnson came in to take a few knees for the soon-to-be victorious Atlanta Falcons and end the game. Not on Dick LeBeau’s watch. Having lost a challenge earlier, the Bengals head coach had to wait until the second kneel down to make his move and call timeout with 1:00 left. The Falcons countered by calling the ever so rare post-kneel rush. LeBeau’s sad timeouts definitely caught the Falcons off guard leading to one last Bengal’s possession consisting of an incomplete pass, five-yard rush, incomplete pass, before finally admitting defeat with a sad kneel out of… let’s call it the Victim formation.
6
Week 3, 2010: Mike Singletary (San Francisco 49ers)
Losing 31-3
A couple of sad timeouts in a row on defense down 28 with less than two minutes to go opened the door for the 49ers to get the ball back on offense and take the only accepted sad offensive timeout on this list. It came with :03 seconds left in the game and set up a sad touchdown with no time left. With the clock literally showing 0:00, on trotted a sad Joe Nedney to kick the sad extra point.
5
Week 1, 2009: Steve Spagnuolo (St. Louis Rams)
Losing 28-0
Steve Spagnuolo was not about to be shutout without a fight. After each of three consecutive Edgerrin James runs, the Rams called timeout in response. After a punt, Marc Bulger was able to complete four check down passes for a combined 28 yards before ending the game on an incompletion.
4
Week 2, 2005: Mike Tice (Minnesota Vikings)
Losing 37-8
Mice Tice makes the list here in his final season as a head coach ever. Fresh off an eight-point drive late in the 4th quarter to increase the Vikings total points to eight, Tice felt the momentum swinging his way and called two timeouts on the Bengals next drive with about two minutes left. The annoyed Bengals – likely bored from the very start of the game – completed a 13-yard first down pass on the ensuing third down. Three kneels followed to end the game, but it’s my contention that had Tice not wasted a timeout early in the third quarter, he would have had called a final sad timeout to force the extra kneel down. Unfortunately, we’ll never find out for sure.
3
Week 14, 2007: John Fox (Carolina Panthers)
Losing 37-6
If you thought John Fox wasn’t making this list again you might want to again re-evaluate your life. This goes for me too. Speaking personally as a Bears fan, I’m shocked John Fox knew he was allowed to call time out this deep into a half. How fitting the irony that even when he did, it was just as stupid as when he didn’t.
Anyway, this time Fox was with the Panthers when he called timeouts with 2:38 and 2:30 left. Fox demonstrated that he’ll do anything to scrape and claw for a win… except go for it on 4th and 2 on the drive immediately before the sad timeouts. Instead, a signature 4th and short John Fox punt kept his identity pure.
2
Week 5, 2009: Mike Singletary (San Francisco 49ers)
Losing 45-10
The fact that five of these records belong to coaches closely associated with the Chicago Bears is low key the saddest subplot of this article on sad timeouts and yet is in no way surprising. Mike Singletary was one of the biggest colossal coaching failures in the history of the league until someone held Urban Meyer’s side girl. With less than two minutes to go, Singletary called three consecutive timeouts to give his QB Shaun Hill a chance to head a comeback down 35 with :26 to go and, of course, no timeouts.
1
Week 1, 2019: Brian Flores (Miami Lolphins)
Losing 59-10
Ah yes, the fabled 2019 Lolphins. In case you forgot who the 2019 Dolphins were, I covered it in-depth here and here. As chronicled in the linked blogs, this team was historically bad and this was Lamar Jackson’s coming out game. I’m not sure what Brian Flores was thinking here because he joins Tomlin as the only two names on this list who were not complete laughing stocks as head coaches. With 1:55 left, Flores called his first timeout. After timeout #2 the Ravens accidentally converted a first down – probably out of reflex – and Flores decided a 49-point deficit with 1:50 left was only now too much to have hope for.
The Full List
I glossed over one or two that had little storyline (ex: 2017 Broncos) but if you’re feeling that this wasn’t sad enough here’s all the saddest of the sad timeout sequences. As you can see, the 2019 Lolphins stood bottle nose and tail above the next worse team as they did in so many other sad stats that year. A big thank you to Mike Tomlin’s blackened, beaten pride for leading me to find one more Lolphin LOL:
