Here's the situation: In the SBN/AOL fantasy football league, I was playing BigBlueShoe of Stampede Blue in the semifinals. I was the best team in the regular season and was only a single win away from the finals. As the weekend progressed, I became angrier and angrier at myself over who I started. I left Kevin Faulk, Santonio Holmes, and the Colts D/ST on the bench in favor of Chester Taylor, Lance Moore, and the Eagles D/ST. As a result, I had only 77.3 points going into the Monday Night Football game, even though I could have had over 100. Hell, even starting one of those three players I left on the bench would have made a huge difference.
BigBlueShoe had Aaron Rodgers, Donald Driver, and Mason Crosby left to play in the MNF game, and he trailed by 31.1 points. I was very concerned, as those three easily could make up that much ground. As it turned out, I was almost right. The three combined for 30.7 points, meaning I led by .4 of a point. This is when I started to have a heart attack.
One pass by Aaron Rodgers, a single catch by Donald Driver, or even an extra point by Mason Crosby would have knocked me out of the playoffs. Everything had to go in my favor, and I mean everything. The Packers went down the field and with about 20 or so seconds left in the game, had a chance to beat Chicago on a field goal. If the kick was good, I lose. Thankfully, it was no good. The Bears blocked the kick, sending the game to overtime and keeping my slim lead intact for the time being.
Despite the good news, this was far from over for me. The Bears had to win the coin toss and get the ball; otherwise, Aaron Rodgers and the other two Packers players on my opponent's roster would have a chance to end my championship hopes. Once again, luck was on my side. The coin toss actually bounced off of Brian Urlacher's helmet and landed heads up. The Packers called tails, meaning the Bears got the ball and gave me hope that I could survive to win the game.
The next thing that had to go my way was Green Bay never getting the ball back. The game had to end without the Packers ever going on offense again in order to ensure that Rodgers or Driver or Crosby doesn't get a chance to score any points. That meant that the Bears had to go down the field and score on their opening drive of OT, even though their offense had stunk most of the night. With luck on my side, that wasn't the case when they got the ball in overtime. The Bears quickly moved the ball into field goal range, setting up Robbie Gould for an attempt to win the game. Gould's kick from 38 yards out was perfect, and the Bears won. That meant that my slim margin of .4 of a point stayed intact and I also miraculously won.
I have been part of some crazy close games in fantasy football in the past, but never before has something like this happened, especially with a trip to the championship game on the line. Like I said, everything had to go my way, and somehow everything did. Crosby's field goal was blocked; the Bears won the coin toss; and the Bears scored on the opening drive of overtime to ensure that the Packers didn't get the ball back, which likely would have handed me a loss. After all, Rodgers only needed to complete a pass for 9 yards to give BigBlueShoe the win, so it was pretty much a guarantee that I was toast if Green Bay got the ball. That is all it would have took to end my season, so I definitely lucked out.
What makes this win all the more thrilling is the fact that BigBlueShoe was 2-0 against me in the regular season. On top of that, his first victory over me was by a margin of .8 of a point. That game ended my perfect start to the season and was one of only four losses all year. The feeling after that loss sucked, so I can't even imagine what BigBlueShoe feels like right now.
Although winning this game is amazing and I feel like I have already won the championship, I still have to win one more game to take home the title. I guess this is comparable to the Miracle on Ice in that sense. The United States pulled off the miracle against the Soviet Union on February 22, 1980. However, the United States still had to beat Finland two days later to win the Gold Medal. They did just that, so here's to hoping that I can use the momentum of this victory to win one more next week in the championship game.