Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers completed a 20-point comeback against the Detroit Lions on Thursday night with one of the greatest finishes in NFL history.
Down two points and given one untimed down after a controversial facemask penalty, Rodgers uncorked a rainbow Hail Mary, which was caught in the end zone by tight end Richard Rodgers to give the Packers the most improbable of walk-off wins. The 61-yard touchdown ranks as the longest game-winning Hail Mary ever.
“It’s the greatest feeling,” said Rodgers, who admitted he had never completed a Hail Mary at any level before Thursday night. “We’re blessed to be able to play this game, and it reminds you at times how special this game is. You live for days like this, to be able to have something miraculous happen.”
The Packers trailed 20-0 in the third quarter before mounting a furious rally. It looked like it was going to come up short on a number of occasions, including when Matthew Stafford found T.J. Jones on third down late in the game and when Green Bay’s last-ditch lateral play was stopped with no time remaining. But a facemask on Lions defensive end Devin Taylor extended the game, and Rodgers made the mistake hurt.
61 yards. One Throw. This is how one of the craziest finishes in NFL history went down. #GBvsDET https://t.co/01AamoDd8J
— NFL (@NFL) December 4, 2015
On the final play, Rodgers bought time to his right and crow-hopped into his Hail Mary heave, unleashing the throw at about his own 35-yard line. A mass of bodies were waiting in the end zone, but Rodgers—who first turned around to make sure he was in the end zone before relocating the football—stepped in front of everyone and made the leaping catch.
Somehow, someway, the Packers left Detroit as 27-23 winners.
Here are some of the other best finishes in NFL history:
The First Hail Mary
The term “Hail Mary” spawned from the Dallas Cowboys’ last second win over the Minnesota Vikings in the 1975 playoffs. Down 14-10, Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach completed a 50-yard bomb to Drew Pearson to shock Minnesota at the old Metropolitan Stadium.
Afterwards, Staubach summed up the game-winner, all while providing the NFL vocabulary with a new phrase: “It was just a Hail Mary pass; a very, very lucky play.”
Music City Miracle
The most famous kickoff return in NFL history gave the Tennessee Titans one of the wildest postseason wins ever. After the Buffalo Bills took a one-point lead on a short field goal with 16 seconds left in the 1999 playoffs, the Titans pulled off a miracle return of the ensuing kickoff. Fullback Lorenzo Neal caught the short squib kick and handed to tight end Frank Wycheck, who threw back across the field to receiver Kevin Dyson. Provided a wall of blockers in front of him, Dyson went 75 yards for the game-winning score.
Just a side note to the Music City Miracle: The Bills kicked their go-ahead field goal on first down with 20 seconds left and two timeouts remaining. That miscalculation of game management allowed for the frantic finish.
Super Bowl Stunner
The most unlikely of heroes saved the day for the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX. After Tom Brady led the Patriots back with two fourth quarter scoring drives, Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks engineered their own late game march, using a juggling catch from Ricardo Lockette to help set up the Seahawks on the 1-yard line with 20 seconds left.
That’s when Butler—an undrafted rookie cornerback—stepped in front of Wilson’s pass and sealed another Super Bowl win for the Patriots. Would Marshawn Lynch have scored from one yard out? We’ll never know.
Fail Mary
One of the more controversial finishes in NFL history saw the Packers on the other end of a primetime Hail Mary. Down 12-7 with eight seconds to go, Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson lofted a pass to the end zone, which was initially intercepted by Packers safety M.D. Jennings but later wrestled away by Seahawks receiver Golden Tate.
The two officials near the play ruled in opposite ways, with one signaling a touchback and the other touchdown. It was then deemed a score, and a review of the play upheld the ruling. The Packers lost the game, but the controversy surrounding the ending forced the NFL to bring back its officials after a lockout.
Immaculate Reception
Few plays are as memorable in football lore as the Immaculate Reception. On fourth down late in the 1972 AFC playoffs, Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw’s pass was deflected right into the waiting hands of running back Franco Harris, who made the shoe-string catch and rumbled 60 yards into the end zone. After a brief conference between the officials, the play was ruled a touchdown. Call it divine intervention or old fashioned good luck, but the Steelers were winners.
The Catch I and II
San Francisco 49ers tight end Dwight Clark provided one of the more iconic moments in football history when he leaped high for a touchdown catch from Joe Montana to shock the Dallas Cowboys in the 1982 NFC Championship Game. Montana avoided pressure and made an incredible, off balance throw to the back of the end zone, where Clark hauled in the score with 51 seconds left.
Sixteen years later, the 49ers got a sequel to Clark’s score. Terrell Owens made a 25-yard score between a host of Packers defenders to stun Green Bay in the 1998 postseason. Quarterback Steve Young stumbled on the final play, regained his footing and fired a laser to Owens, who made the catch with three seconds left to give the 49ers a 30-27 win.
He Did What?!
Then Monday Night Football play-by-play man Al Michaels gave us this memorable call back in 2000, when Packers quarterback Brett Favre threw one of the craziest game-winning touchdowns ever. Tied with the Minnesota Vikings at 20 in overtime, Favre threw a third-down prayer to receiver Antonio Freeman, who was well-covered by cornerback Chris Dishman.
Initially, it looked like a harmless incomplete pass. But then Freeman got off the ground and ran into the end zone, and replays confirmed what Freeman already knew: The ball somehow never hit the ground, and Freeman wasn’t touched before the he scored the walk off touchdown. He did WHAT?!
Miracle at the Meadowlands I and II
The Philadelphia Eagles shocked the New York Giants back in 1978, using a late fumble return for a touchdown to give the Eagles a 19-17 win. The fumble came with the Giants attempting to run out the clock, but a mishandled exchange between quarterback and running back created the chaos. Now, teams use the victory formation late in games.
The Eagles struck again in New York in 2010. After trailing by 21 points with eight minutes to play, Philadelphia tied the game at 31 and then forced a punt with 14 seconds left. Eagles receiver DeSean Jackson bobbled the line drive punt but recovered, somehow finding a seam and scoring a 65-yard, game-winning touchdown.