Did the Chargers blow it? Should the teams have played for a tie? That wild ending explained

Pure, unadulterated chaos. The final game of the 2021 NFL regular season was arguably the most dramatic of the entire league year. We’ve seen nail-biting finishes in this game before, like the 49ers-Seahawks matchup that decided a division by an inch two seasons ago. Leaving aside the elephant in the room that I’m about to discuss, this was a fabulously entertaining football game that the Raiders won in overtime 35-32. The Chargers converted seven consecutive opportunities on plays in which a failure would have ended their season with an average of more than 11 yards to go. There were moments in which it felt like each team was holding on for dear life.

Of course, there was an added factor making this even more dramatic. Both the Chargers and Raiders knew they would make it into the postseason with a win, but the third scenario made this endgame unique in recent NFL history: A tie would have pushed each into the postseason at the expense of the Steelers, who won earlier in the afternoon. The chances of both teams taking a knee were always nil, but it was fair to wonder whether they would be upset about settling for a tie if they got into a sticky situation late in overtime.

If you fell asleep late Sunday night, I’m here to tell you that you missed that very sticky situation. The Chargers and Raiders were clearly trying to win, but when we got to the two-minute warning and Las Vegas was at midfield, it felt like the competitiveness dam in the stadium burst. Everything was on the table, and after the game, I’ve seen conspiracy theories for what each team wanted to do on both sides.

After watching closely and listening to what was said after the game, it’s pretty clear what happened and what each team wanted to happen. I’m not sure it’s a conspiracy theory or some grand mistake by either side, but I do think it’s worth breaking down. Let’s run through the last offensive series for the Raiders and see what happened with the game on the line:

At the two-minute warning in…