Random Biggest Sports Team Collapses in History (18 items)

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  (#1) 2004 New York Yankees

  The scene was game four of the 2004 American League Championship Series and the New York Yankees led the Series three games to none against fierce rivals Boston Red Sox. It was the bottom of the ninth and the Yankees, up 4-3 in Boston, needed just three outs to advance to the World Series.

  Three outs they got, but not before Boston added a run to tie the game at four. Another three innings followed with the Red Sox stealing two more runs in the 12th to take the game. So the Sox take one game, leaving the Yankees with a 3-1 lead. No big deal, right? Wrong. The Red Sox did the unthinkable and swept the next three games to take the series, including one game in 14 innings. As New York sat back stunned of the massive lead they'd blown, Boston went on to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series for the championship.
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  (#2) 2007 New England Patriots

  Led by studly quarterback Tom Brady, the 2007 New England Patriots became the first team in National Football League history to complete a 16-game season with a perfect, undefeated record. Along with top receivers like Wes Wekler and Randy Moss, the perfect Patriots were heavily favored to win the Super Bowl, similar to the 1972 Miami Dolphins who won each of their regular season games before winning the championship as well.

  New England easily reached Super Bowl XLII, defeating the Jacksonville Jaguars and San Diego Chargers along the way, but suffered an embarrassing collapse in the big game. Brady and company finished with an 18-1 overall record after dropping the championship game 17-14 to the New York Giants.
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  (#3) 1992 AFC Wild-Card Game

  Casually known as simply "The Comeback," this super sports collapse involved a 32-point deficit that was squandered by one team in a very important NFL Playoff game. It all took place on January 3, 1993, in Buffalo, New York, as the Buffalo Bills hosted the Houston Oilers in the AFC Wild Card Game.

  Houston built a 28-3 lead going into halftime, leading many to think that they'd clinched the game. Buffalo however had other plans as they added five consecutive touchdowns to take a 38-35 lead. The Oilers tied the game at 38-all with a field goal, but the Bills prevailed in overtime. Buffalo went on to reach Super Bowl XXVII where their run ended with a 52-17 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
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  (#4) Golden State Warriors

  • San Francisco

  A year after defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals, the Warriors looked set for a repeat. After one of the single most phenomenal seasons in the history of the game, Golden State was up 3-1, even if that single loss was a pantsing of a game. But with a two-game lead and a record-breaking regular season record of 73-9 (better even than the legendary '95 to '96 Bulls) the Warriors had this all locked down, right?

  Nope. Instead, the Cavs became the first team in Finals history to overcome a 3-1 deficit. With Steph Curry's three-point mojo utterly abandoning him just as LeBron James and Kyrie Irving activated their Wonder Twin powers, the championship went to seven games, seven games Golden State lost in dramatic, unexpected, and embarrassing fashion. How big a fiasco was it? A frustrated Curry was ejected from the penultimate game after throwing his mouth guard into the crowd, inadvertently hitting a fan.
  
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  (#5) 1999 British Open

  Unlike many of the other notable sports collapses on this list, the disaster at the 1999 British Open was not created by a poor team effort, but rather by an unfortunate play from a single athlete, golfer Jean Van de Velde. In an attempt to become the first Frenchman to win the tournament, Van de Velde built a substantial lead going into the 18th hole and had nearly already won the title.

  That lead however was squandered in the final strokes. Van de Velde could finish with a double bogey, or six strokes on the par four, and still win the event. Unfortunately for him, Van de Velde ran into a water hazard and needed seven strokes to finish the hole. That was only one too many but it allowed Paul Lawrie to take the championship.
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  (#6) 2010-11 Miami Heat

  After former Cleveland Cavalier LeBron James announced on live television that he was "taking his talents to South Beach," the pressure was on the 2010-11 Miami Heat National Basketball Association team to achieve greatness. The Heat had a dream team of James, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade and others, making them early favorites for the championship.

  Miami had a successful regular season, finishing with a 58-24 record to win the Southeast Division and enter the NBA Playoffs as the second seed in the East. Their stellar run took them all the way to the NBA Finals where they faced the Dallas Mavericks. Once again, Miami was favored to win but they were humbled when Dallas took the series and the championship from them in six games.
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  (#7) 2006 Insight Bowl

  Setting a record for the biggest comeback in NCAA Football Division I FBS bowl history, the 2006 Insight Bowl also featured the biggest collapse in college football in a single game. Coming in at 7-5, the Texas Tech Red Raiders were slightly favored over the 6-6 Minnesota Golden Gophers but fell way behind through the first three quarters in a 38-7 deficit with only eight minutes to play. The Gophers nearly had the bowl game won when the Red Raiders came back to add 31-unanswered points to tie the game at 38-all.

  Texas Tech forced overtime but Minnesota got the ball first in the extra session. The Gophers drive down the field in six plays to score a field goal, but the Red Raiders answered right back with a five-play touchdown run to win the game. Unsurprisingly just days after the collapse, Minnesota head coach Glen Mason was fired.
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  (#8) 2011 Boston Red Sox

  After leading the American League East Division for most of the second half of the 2011 season, the Boston Red Sox went from heavy favorites to failing to qualify for the MLB Postseason after one heck of a collapse. The Red Sox first fell behind the New York Yankees in the division, but still held a nine-game lead over the Tampa Bay Rays as the season entered September, the final month of the season.

  However, Boston collapsed in September, winning only seven games and entering the final day of the season, September 28, tied with Tampa Bay. A Rays loss and Red Sox win would have put Boston in the playoffs, and that looked pretty likely as Tampa Bay went down 0-7 against the Yankees in their final game. The Rays went on to not only come back, but also win the game in extra innings, while the Red Sox, after a rain delay, fell to the Baltimore Orioles, ending their post-season run before it even began.
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  (#9) 1996 Masters

  Usually in golf, a six-stroke lead is ginormous. To lose when you're up that much is pretty rare, but as Greg Norman showed at the 1996 Masters Tournament, it's far from impossible. Spoiler: Norman squandered away a six-stroke lead and lost the tournament to Nick Faldo.

  Norman absolutely collapsed during the back nine on the final round of the tournament. He could have golfed at par and still won, but he played just horribly. In holes nine through 12 he recorded three bogeys and a double bogey. That, along with strong play from Faldo, put Norman squarely out of the lead at a depressing six-over 78. Faldo won the Masters with a combined score of -12 for easy win over the -7 Norman.
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  (#10) 1964 Philadelphia Phillies

  Decades before the Boston Red Sox blew a huge lead in the 2011 season, the Philadelphia Phillies did nearly the same thing back in 1964. Philly was 6.5 games up late in September with only 12 games left. They were a lock to make the playoffs - at least it was before a late road trip ended their season in a full collapse.

  The Phillies lost 10 games in a row to drop from first place to a tie for second. The St. Louis Cardinals, who never appeared in first place until the last week of the season, won the National League pennant and went on to defeat the New York Yankees in the 1964 World Series.
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  (#11) 1978 Washington Redskins

  Though their undefeated run didn't last nearly as long as the 2007 New England Patriots, the 1978 Washington Redskins still suffered a massive collapse after a quite promising start to the season. The Redskins, led by first-year head coach Jack Pardee, turned heads by starting the year with six straight wins.

  Washington struggled over the next five games, losing three and winning two, but the real collapse came in games 12 through 16. The Redskins lost all five of their final games to finish the season even at 8-8. They fell to third in the NFC East and didn't make the playoffs.
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  (#12) 1993 Miami Dolphins

  As many NFL teams have experienced throughout the years, losing a top quarterback to injury during the season is perhaps the worst thing that can happen. Many teams were able to rebound with a strong backup passer and finish the year in a respectable manner, but unfortunately the 1993 Miami Dolphins were not one of those teams.

  The Dolphins started the 1993 season with an impressive 9-2 record, especially considering they lost top quarterback Dan Marino in week six. Miami looked primed for a Super Bowl run, that was until they lost backup quarterback Scott Mitchell and went on to drop the final five games of the season. The Dolphins fell behind the Buffalo Bills in the AFC East and didn't even qualify for the playoffs.
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  (#13) 1941-42 Detroit Red Wings

  In both the first time the Stanley Cup Finals went to seven games and the first time a sports team blew a best-of-seven-game series after leading three games to none, the 1941-42 Detroit Red Wings made National Hockey League history in the 1942 NHL Playoffs, but not necessarily in a good way.

  After defeating the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins in the opening rounds, the Wings met the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Stanley Cup Finals. Detroit won the first three games easily, but an incident by then-Detroit coach Jack Adams led to his suspension and gave the Leafs momentum in the series. Toronto went on to win the last four games consecutively to upset the Wings and take the championship.
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  (#14) Los Angeles Dodgers

  • Los Angeles

  It was simultaneously thrilling and frustrating to watch the Dodgers post-season run in 2013 as they closed the season testing out bench players and giving up home field advantage during the play-offs. One example of things to come was a home loss to long-time rivals, the San Francisco Giants, who weren't even good enough to make a try for the wild card the year after they won the World Series. The Giants put up the most runs they've ever scored at Dodger Stadium in a 19-3 rout of the Dodgers that saw pitcher Ricky Nolasco give up 7 runs in 1.1 innings.

  In the post-season, they took the NLDS from the Atlanta Braves easily enough, but then crumbled under the pressure applied by the St. Louis Cardinals pitching staff in the NLCS. After hitting .333 as a team in the NLDS with seven home runs and 26 total runs over four games, the Dodgers put up a measly 13 runs over six games in the NLCS against the Cardinals with a .211 team batting average and four home runs (all in game 5) with a shocking .200 (8-40) batting average with runners in scoring position.

  The cherry on the top of the Dodgers' season? They lost the NLCS 9-0 in game 6 in St. Louis, with Kershaw on the mound as starting pitcher. The game may result in the loss of Kershaw's hopes for the Cy Young and Cuban sensation Yasiel Puig's chances for Rookie of the Year.  
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  (#15) 1999-00 Portland Trail Blazers

  Though they entered as the underdog to the Los Angeles Lakers, the Portland Trail Blazers definitely had a shot at pulling a big upset in the 2000 Western Conference Finals of the NBA Playoffs. They had that shot and squandered it all away at the final moment. Through six games, the Lakers and Trail Blazers tied at three games a piece. They would need a game seven to determine which would continue on to the NBA Finals to meet the Indiana Pacers.

  With just 10 minutes to play in the fourth quarter, Portland had built a 15-point lead and nearly punched their ticket to the finals. Yes, generally a 15-point lead is pretty big in basketball, but not big enough that Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant couldn't overcome it and overcome it they did. The duo went on a 15-point run late in the contest to earn the 89-84 victory. Los Angeles carried that momentum in the finals when they topped Indiana for the title. Portland went back home, tails between their legs, after the massive late collapse.
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  (#16) St. Louis Cardinals

  • St. Louis

  The defending 2011 World Series champions led the San Francisco Giants 3-1 in the NLCS and looked poised to make a return to the World Series in 2011. The Cards went 1-1 in the first two games held in San Francisco and won games 3 and 4 at home, putting them one game away from clinching at home. That game was won by the Giants 5-0 and the series went back to the West coast for game 6 and 7 where the Giants took game 6 with a score of 5-1 and securing their spot in the World Series (which they would eventually win) with a game 7 score of 9-0.
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  (#17) 1994 World Cup Qualification

  Earning a great deal of criticism, the French National Soccer Team suffered a complete collapse during their attempt to qualify for the 1994 World Cup. Having not qualified in 1993, the pressure was on the French team to make it and initially they looked promising, but everything fell apart at the last minute.

  France had a three-point lead over Bulgaria with just two games left. They could have finished in a tie in the final game against Bulgaria and still qualified, but that unfortunately didn't happen. Tied in the 90th minute, France collapsed and allowed Bulgaria to score the game-winning goal. There were no more chances for the French team, who went back home brokenhearted and without World Cup qualification.
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  (#18) 2011 U.S. Open (Tennis)

  Far from the first professional tennis collapse, the choke job put up by Roger Federer at the 2011 U.S. Open is certainly one of the most recent. Federer had a solid performance in the opening rounds to reach the final bracket as a third seed. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was no challenge in the quarterfinals as Federer swept the round, but the semifinals and Novak Djokovic were a completely different story.

  Federer went up 2-0 on the top-seeded Djokovic in the semifinals, needing just one more win to advance to the finals. He never got that win however as the collapse occurred as Djokovic took the next three to eliminate Federer completely. To rub it in a little bit more, Djokovic went on to win the championship over Rafael Nadal.

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