The Comeback (American football)
The Comeback or The Choke was a National Football League (NFL) game held on January 3, 1993, as part of the 1992–93 NFL playoffs. The Buffalo Bills overcame a 35–3 deficit to defeat the visiting Houston Oilers 41–38 in overtime and set the then-record for largest comeback in NFL history.[1][2] Though surpassed by the Minnesota Vikings in 2022,[3] the Bills' 32-point comeback remains the largest comeback in postseason history and the second largest overall. It was also the first time an NFL team with a lead of at least 30 points lost the game, and the only one until the aforementioned Colts–Vikings game in 2022.
Houston Oilers
(10–6)
January 3, 1993
75,141
Legacy[edit]
Christie's kicking shoe from the game is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. The game was named #1 on NFL Top Ten's Top Ten Comebacks.[17]
The teams next met in the playoffs at Adelphia Coliseum in the 1999–2000 Wild Card round after the Oilers had moved to Nashville and become the Tennessee Titans. Christie made another clutch field goal from 41 yards with 16 seconds left following a Rob Johnson drive that gave the Bills a 16–15 lead. On Christie's ensuing kickoff, fullback Lorenzo Neal fielded the kick and handed it off to tight end Frank Wycheck. Wycheck then threw a cross-field pass to wide receiver Kevin Dyson, who went the remaining 75 yards for a touchdown dubbed the Music City Miracle, reaching the end zone with just 3 seconds left. Following a replay review, referee Phil Luckett upheld the ruling on the field that Wycheck's pass was a lateral and not an illegal forward pass, and the Titans won 22-16 en route to a place in Super Bowl XXXIV after Del Greco's extra point and after the ensuing Bills kickoff return did not score.
On September 25, 2011, the Bills rebounded from a 21–0 deficit to defeat the New England Patriots 34–31. When Rian Lindell kicked the game-winning field goal as time expired,[18] radio play-by-play announcer John Murphy enthusiastically dubbed their victory "The greatest comeback since The Comeback!"[19]
27 years later, during the 2019 playoffs, the Bills blew a 16-point lead against the Houston expansion franchise Texans in the Wild Card round of the playoffs, which some considered to be revenge for the Comeback game.[20] However, the Texans blew a 24-point lead of their own a week later against the Chiefs.
During the 2020 NFL season, Frank Reich returned to Buffalo as head coach of the Indianapolis Colts at Bills Stadium on January 9, 2021, where his team lost to the Bills in a wild card game.[21] It was the Bills' first playoff win since the 1995 season and only the second since Reich left the roster.
Reich was fired as head coach of the Colts on November 7, 2022, and was replaced with former Pro Bowl center Jeff Saturday.[22] On December 17, 2022, the Minnesota Vikings set a new record for largest comeback in NFL history after coming back from a 33-point halftime deficit to defeat the Colts in overtime, 39–36; the Bills comeback over the Oilers still remains the largest comeback in NFL playoff history.[23]