The Cincinnati Bengals pulled out a miracle victory in the final minute of their divisional playoff game against the Tennessee Titans on Saturday. But Bengals coach Zac Taylor almost prevented it from happening altogether.
Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill threw a game-changing interception as Tennessee was driving with fewer than 30 seconds left in a 16-16 ballgame.
The interception gave Cincinnati the ball near midfield. A 19-yard pass from Joe Burrow to Ja’Marr Chase on the very next play put the Bengals in field-goal range. Cincinnati kicker Evan McPherson then won the game with a 52-yard field goal as time expired.
Going back to the crucial Tannehill interception, video went viral of Taylor appearing to be calling for a timeout before the ball was even snapped. In the video, Taylor could be seen running up to the line official but failing to get his attention. The play proceeded, and Tannehill threw the pick.
Others also noticed that Taylor seemed to be asking for a timeout.
The Bengals had two timeouts remaining at the time, and using one might have made sense since the Titans were on third down. Getting a stop on third down would have forced a punt and left at least some time for Cincinnati to do something before time expired in regulation.
However, others pointed out that Taylor might have been calling for a penalty against Tennessee. In the video above, you can see Titans left tackle Taylor Lewan moving before the snap, potentially creating grounds for a false start.
In any case, the interception sequence ended up putting the Bengals in position to win the game. If Taylor actually was trying to call a timeout there, you can bet that he is thanking his lucky stars that it was not granted. Otherwise he might have dethroned this fellow head coach for the worst timeout call of the NFL season.
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