I don’t know how they lost that game. Watching the 49ers celebrate after stopping the Rams on a game-deciding fourth-and-1 run Thursday night, I simply couldn’t form an explanation for how the Rams had managed to blow what should have been an easy victory over their injury-riddled division rivals. It felt like the Rams could have done whatever they wanted on offense, and a limping Mac Jones’ only reliable target was Kendrick Bourne on the 49ers’ side. So the Rams’ 26-23 defeat looked like it would be one of the most frustrating and inexplicable losses of the entire season.
And then Sunday rolled around. Sure, there were ugly defeats, like the Giants turning the ball over five times to lose 26-14 to the previously winless Saints, the Raiders allowing the Colts to score six straight touchdowns in a 40-6 defeat and the junior varsity Ravens singlehandedly reinspiring confidence in the Texans in a 44-10 blowout. And to cap off Sunday, the Bills fell 23-20 to the Patriots. But even judged by the standard that started Week 5 on Thursday night, fans had to endure some truly monumental and heartbreaking collapses on Sunday that went beyond any of those.
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Which one was the worst? I’m here to answer that very question. If it sounds similar to a conversation we had a couple Mondays ago, you’re not wrong. After a series of losses that must have caused televisions around the nation to shudder in fear of flying objects, though, we have to essentially run back that same topic to see whether these Week 5 losses were just a confluence of awful moments or something more…
