Looking for your ideas on the greatest blunders in NFL history

[Hawg73]

I saw a thread on this topic over in the general NFL forum at KFFL.com and thought it might make for some good conversation here. The idea is to share what you think are some of the biggest blunders, miscalculations, mistakes, uses of poor judgement etc., etc. that you can remember whether coming from a player, coaching staff, the front office, refs or anybody else connected with the game. Since it's almost that time of the year I'll start with a blunder involving the draft.

It was, I think, around 1970 and the Pats were desperate for a DT and had a high choice which they exercised on a prospect named Phil Olsen. They called Phil's parent's house after the selection and legend has it that the conversation went something like this:

Pats GM: Hello, this is the Boston Patriots calling, congratulations - we just chose your son in the first round of the draft. May we speak to Phil?

Mr. Olsen: Well, you could if he was here but he's in the hospital.

Pats GM: He is? For what?

Mr. Olsen: Oh he fractured his leg the other day and is in a cast up to his hip.

Pats GM: WHAT THE????? D'OH!!! &@#$#@!!*&@$#%@!!

Olsen never wanted to be here and we traded him to the LA Rams so he could be with his big brother Merlin. Things sure have changed in the last 30 years or so. Now guys WANT to be here.

[pookie]

Probably not the "greatest" blunders, but 2 come to mind immediately.

- The coin toss blunder involving the Steelers and Lions on Turkey Day a couple years back.

- Then, this season.... The Lions winning the coin toss (why do both of these include the Lions and a coin toss?) and electing to kick off to start overtime, which turned out to be not such a great idea as the Bears marched right down the field with the gift possession, sealing the Lions fate with a FG.

[dropKickMurphy]

The Pats' single Championship banner certainly pales in comparison to the number of titles captured by more illustrious franchises like Pittsburgh, Dallas, and San Francisco. When you're talking about big time bonehead moves, however, there is absolutely no question that we Patriots fans can stand tall and proclaim "We're number one!" Who could argue that the New England Patriots are the undisputed Kings of Blunders?
My #1:
Owner Billy Sullivan gives his hapless offspring Chuck the go ahead to negotiate a deal with Don King to promote the Jacksons' "Victory Tour" in 1984. Of course, King vs. Chuck turned out to be a bigger mismatch than the Pats/Bears Super Bowl. Sullivan came out of the negotiations agreeing to finance the entire cost of the tour. Micheal Jackson designed the huge (to the point that it blocked the views from a large portion of the seats) enormously expensive set. As the costs mounted, the public's appetite for the Jacksons waned. In the ultimate case of adding insult to injury, Sullivan was unable to obtain permission from the Foxboro Board of Selectmen to hold a tour date in his own stadium. The family lost over $20,000,000 on the fiasco, directly leading to their loss of the team.
Billy Sullivan died a few years ago...doubtless a bitter, disallusioned old man as he watched the value of NFL franchises skyrocket. Last I heard, Chuck Sullivan was using his talents to defraud investors in shady security deals. (http://www.lubrinco.com/ejournal/ej200209.pdf)

[NEM]

People in Arizona willing to accept the St. Louis (Chicago) Cardinals move to Phoenix, rahter than wait a few years to get an expansion team of their own.

[BuckWild]

The hiring of Pete Carroll and the drafting of Chris Canty

BuckWild!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jim_vh]

Originally posted by BuckWild
The hiring of Pete Carroll and the drafting of Chris Canty

BuckWild!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

canty i can buy. but carroll has one of the best all time won/lost records for a pats coach. and about that record after a superbowl, we all saw what happened last year. he got a lot our of some really crummy talent drafted by grier.

[Steve1]

How about a certain "roughing the passer" call against sugarbear in '76? :banghead:

[bideau]

Originally posted by dropKickMurphy
The Pats' single Championship banner certainly pales in comparison to the number of titles captured by more illustrious franchises like Pittsburgh, Dallas, and San Francisco. When you're talking about big time bonehead moves, however, there is absolutely no question that we Patriots fans can stand tall and proclaim "We're number one!" Who could argue that the New England Patriots are the undisputed Kings of Blunders?
My #1:
Owner Billy Sullivan gives his hapless offspring Chuck the go ahead to negotiate a deal with Don King to promote the Jacksons' "Victory Tour" in 1984. Of course, King vs. Chuck turned out to be a bigger mismatch than the Pats/Bears Super Bowl. Sullivan came out of the negotiations agreeing to finance the entire cost of the tour. Micheal Jackson designed the huge (to the point that it blocked the views from a large portion of the seats) enormously expensive set. As the costs mounted, the public's appetite for the Jacksons waned. In the ultimate case of adding insult to injury, Sullivan was unable to obtain permission from the Foxboro Board of Selectmen to hold a tour date in his own stadium. The family lost over $20,000,000 on the fiasco, directly leading to their loss of the team.
Billy Sullivan died a few years ago...doubtless a bitter, disallusioned old man as he watched the value of NFL franchises skyrocket. Last I heard, Chuck Sullivan was using his talents to defraud investors in shady security deals. (http://www.lubrinco.com/ejournal/ej200209.pdf)

Keep one thing in mind, however. This blunder eventually led to Kraft owning the team and giving us a brand new stadium and a championship banner.

[Patman12]

1. The 2001 Steelers telling family and friends to make reservations in New Orleans for Super Bowl week before playing the Patriots.

2. (Not really a blunder, more of a giant annoyance)Raider players, fans and Satan (Al Davis:AlDavis: ) proclaiming the "tuck rule" was incorrect, and that the league is out to get them.

3. Victor Kiam as an owner.

4. Drafting Eugene Chung.

5. Zeke Mowat and the "Patriot Missle" incident.

[Hawg73]

Originally posted by Patman12
13. Victor Kiam as an owner.

5. Zeke Mowat and the "Patriot Missle" incident.

You're preaching to the choir Patman. I hear that.

[ItsGood_ItsGood]

"This'll work out great Mr. Kraft. See, Curtis Martin has been a real good back for us, but he's not that big, and sooner or later he's gonna start breaking down.

"In the meantime, the Jets can never afford to pay him that much, and before you know it, Parcells will have the whole franchise in salary cap jail.

"We, on the other hand will have two more draft picks I can use. I've got my eye on this kid Chris Canty, I can rebuild our offensive line with guys like Ed Ellis and Heath Irwin, and Rod Rutledge will be the next Ben Coates.

"So trust me on this one, and don't worry about Parcells and Martin sticking it to us. After all, I was right about Terry Glenn, wasn't I?"

-Bobby Grier

[Ottawapatty]

These are all great blunder's, but how about these two from the Great White North, that is right the CFL:

GM Garney Henley joined the Ottawa Rough Riders in 1995 after taking a year off from professional football. During his tenure,

Henley was responsible for drafting a deceased player during the CFL's dispersal draft of the Las Vegas Posse. It was also discovered that he had traded the team's first round pick in this 1995's Canadian college draft to two different teams.

Dear God those were funny stories at the time!

Also for the NFL I remeber laughing very hard a certain Gramatica brother during a celebration gone wrong.

I'll have more later.

Matt

[Ottawapatty]

Hey, are you guys crazy? This is funny stuff! They drafted a dead guy! Well, maybe not funny like Cartoon funny, but Seinfield funny or Six Feet Under funny! Besides there has to be more dumb-ass things that were done!

Anyone . . ., Anyone . . .


Matt

[SamBam39]

Trading Herschel Walker to the Vikings for all the draft picks that were used by Jimmy Johnson to build the Dallas Cowboys into the powerhouse they became. That was a bad trade!

[Peg]

... This thread and the impending draft next month made me think of a piece that you wrote and posted last year about this time over on Patriots.com...
Wasn't it entitled something like "The Pats All-time Worst Draft Picks in History" or something like that?... Can you pull that out of the archives and share that with everyone here?... I think that everyone would enjoy reading it--some for the first time and some for the second time... Thanks, Man! :)