That Game Down Near Graceland

That Game Down Near Graceland

     The Music City Miracle. I remember exactly where it was when it happened. I was at my neighbor’s house and vaguely was walking back and forth as the match unfolded. The Bills appeared to have had the game won when I went into the kitchen to do god knows what. When I came back, they had lost. Everyone was very upset but I didn’t see what the big deal was.

     We’d be back next year, I told my youthful self.

     In hindsight, it was the death of an era. Division championships, home playoff games, comebacks that people didn’t attend, four Straight trips to the Super Bowl but no ability to cash in. At the end of the decade, the Bills were amidst an identity crisis. They saved their franchise by signing a Heisman trophy winner. That was enough, so they brought in Rob Johnson.

     What sounds better to you, a Heisman trophy winner or Rob Johnson? One would think the management of the Buffalo Bills would be able to answer that question but they decided to mess with the team's chemistry. We thought we’d dodged a huge bullet down there in the dying seconds but we didn’t.

     Like many, I like to speculate how things would’ve been different had we just stuck with Flutie. There would’ve been no debate about the throw being forward or not because we most likely wouldn’t have been in that position to begin with. Then again, perhaps things would’ve unfolded as they did in Miami the year prior. Fumble it away, Buffalo style.

     Both times, it was done in heartbreaking fashion. 

     It’s even worse to think about how close we truly were. The Titans came up one yard short in the Super Bowl. How would things have been different had Flutie started? Sadly, we'll never know as we review this tragically great moment in NFL History. The bottom line is that I don’t blame the forward pass, I blame the Bills for putting themselves in that position.

The 90s ended as they should’ve for the Bills, by doing it to themselves.

-By: Thomas Braun Jr.