For as great as the NFL is, even the Super Bowl doesn’t have the dramatic finality of the words “Game 7” from other sports. Maybe it’s because we’ve had too many Super Bowl blowouts, including February’s absolute clunker between the Chiefs and Eagles, but at least a Game 7 for the NBA Finals, Stanley Cup Finals, and World Series means we’ve seen these teams in a 3-3 stalemate.
The stage was set for a memorable Game 7 of the NBA Finals on Sunday night with the Indiana Pacers trying to complete an all-time underdog run to the title. Fittingly, the player who looked most prepared to meet the moment was Tyrese Haliburton, who quickly made a trio of 3-point shots to give the Pacers an early lead.
But barely halfway through the first quarter, Haliburton, who had a calf strain, crumbled to the ground on a non-contact play and immediately pounded the floor, knowing it was serious. He ruptured his Achilles tendon, silencing the crowd, ending his dream season, and devastating anyone watching the game.
While the Pacers led by a point at halftime, the Thunder were simply too much for Indiana to handle without their leader, and we were denied a great finish and possibly an all-time upset as Haliburton looked poised to have a huge game on a night where the Thunder barely shot 40% from the field.
It will go down as one of those all-time “what if?” moments in sports, especially if the Thunder never win another title with this group. It’ll be hard to talk with a straight face about this Oklahoma City win without bringing up that such a major injury like that could happen in a Game 7 as we almost never see anything like this. Texas quarterback Colt McCoy going out on the opening drive with a pinched nerve in the 2010 National Championship Game is one of the closest examples from any other sport.
We’ve had 59 Super Bowls and only 2-of-118 starting quarterbacks have been knocked out with an injury they couldn’t continue from: Johnny Unitas in Super Bowl V (Colts won 16-13) and Jim Kelly in Super Bowl XXVII (Bills lost 52-17). Neither was anywhere near as dramatic as what happened to Haliburton.
It was a brutal NBA playoffs for Achilles injuries as Damian Lillard (Bucks) and Jayson Tatum (Celtics) also suffered that serious injury. But even when Tatum’s happened, Boston was well on its way to a 3-1 deficit against the Knicks.
The Pacers were in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, and Haliburton came out as aggressive as he’s been all year. That’s why you could say Haliburton’s Achilles was the injury that shapes the story of the 2024-25 NBA season in the way it helped us get to the ending where the Thunder won their first championship.
That got me thinking what the injury of the year was in the NFL each season that did the most to get us to the end result of the season story.
It could be something that happens in the summer, and it could be something that happens in the Super Bowl. It could directly involve a Super Bowl team, or it could have been something that tanked a favorite at the beginning of the season or propelled another team towards the championship.
If we were doing the 1999 season, that’d be very easy as it’s Trent Green’s season-ending injury in the preseason, which led to Kurt Warner taking over and pulling off the all-time underdog story as he threw 41 touchdowns and won MVP and Super Bowl MVP for the Rams.
So, with this being the dead period of the NFL calendar year, let’s have some fun with history for the butterfly effect fans and reflect back on the biggest injury for each season. We’ll start with the 2001 season, the official start of the 21st century, and one that fittingly has the most important injury in NFL history.
Table of Contents
2001 – Drew Bledsoe (Patriots)
You know the story, but do you know the full story?
Two days after the Patriots lost their season opener to the Bengals, the 9/11 terrorist attacks happened that Tuesday. The Patriots were scheduled to face the Carolina Panthers in Week 2 on September 16, 2001, but the NFL postponed the entire week’s slate of games to January (Week 17) out of respect.
That meant the Patriots did not play their second game until September 23 against the Jets, a playoff team that year, instead of the Panthers, who would lose their final 15 games of the season.
That Jets game became the fateful day when a scrambling Drew Bledsoe was hit by Mo Lewis, prompting a young unknown in Tom Brady to take over. The Patriots lost 10-3 and were 0-2 when Brady was named the new starter.
There was consideration to go back to a recovered Bledsoe after the Patriots lost to the Rams to start 5-5, but coach Bill Belichick stuck with Brady, which he did for the Super Bowl too after Brady left the AFC Championship Game injured and Bledsoe threw a touchdown in the win. The Patriots never lost another game that season after the 5-5 start.
The rest is history as the most significant injury in NFL history given it put Brady into a starting role in New England to kick off a dynasty. But none of it may ever have happened if 9/11 didn’t happen first.
In a timeline without 9/11, here’s what would have happened in Week 2’s original schedule (September 16, 2001):
- The Patriots would have been in Carolina against a bad team with a chance to get to 1-1 with Bledsoe.
- The Jets would have been in Oakland in a Week 2 game with far less stakes around it than their rescheduled Week 17 game when the Jets knew they were playing for the No. 6 seed or missing the playoffs and the Raiders were playing to be the No. 2 seed over New England with a win.
- The Jets won 24-22 on a late 53-yard field goal, clinching a playoff spot over Seattle and helping the Patriots to a No. 2 seed, which eventually led to the Patriots hosting the Raiders in the snowy Tuck Rule Game as Brady’s first postseason start.
Again, maybe if Jets-Raiders was just a simple Week 2 game in September, the Raiders may have won that instead of losing by a slim margin to a team playing for its playoff lives while the Raiders knew they’d still be the No. 3 seed and hosting the Jets a week later (where they defeated them 38-24 in the wild card round).
But that also could have meant that Brady’s first playoff game was hosting Seattle on wild card weekend in what may not have been a snow game at all, and the Tuck Rule never happens, so maybe Jon Gruden doesn’t leave the Raiders for Tampa Bay the following year, and so on.
People know about the Mo Lewis hit and how Belichick twice had to decide to stick with Brady over Bledsoe. But I’m not sure anyone has acknowledged the impact 9/11 had on the schedule and the seeding that year.
Given what Brady went on to do, this is the biggest butterfly effect in NFL history, and something so terrible like 9/11 played a major role in it, a fact that often gets overlooked.
2002 – Donovan McNabb (Eagles)
This was such a weird (but fun) season where Rich Gannon won MVP before looking like a deer in the headlights in the Super Bowl as that legendary Tampa Bay defense knew everything he was going to do thanks to coach Jon Gruden’s intimate knowledge of the Oakland offense.
But you had a healthy Tom Brady missing the playoffs for the only time in his career. You had Tommy Maddox (Steelers) and Kelly Holcomb (Browns) putting on one of the all-time passing shootouts in the playoffs. You had Michael Vick leading a road upset in the playoffs at Lambeau Field against Brett Favre and the Packers. Jeff Garcia led a 24-point comeback in the playoffs against the Giants.
Donovan McNabb (Eagles) and Brad Johnson (Buccaneers) both missed several games, but their teams won enough anyway that they still claimed the top two seeds before meeting in the NFC Championship Game, won by the Bucs after Ronde Barber intercepted McNabb for a touchdown in a 27-10 final.
So, I just went with McNabb’s broken fibula in Week 11 as maybe that limited his rushing ability in his playoff return. He had multiple 100-yard rushing games that season before rushing 7 times for 41 total yards in two playoff games.
2003 – Willie McGinest (Patriots)
The biggest injury in 2003 was either a fake injury or the fastest recovery time in NFL history. Either way, it’s another one of the biggest moments in NFL history as it was the start of the Peyton Manning-Tom Brady rivalry.
The Colts were hosting the Patriots in Week 13 in a wild game that saw Indy quickly erase a 31-10 deficit to tie the game. But down 38-34 late, the Colts faced 2nd-and-goal from the 1-yard line in the closing seconds after moving the ball briskly down the field in their no-huddle offense.
Patriots linebacker Willie McGinest went down with an apparent leg injury while the Patriots were out of timeouts, and he was able to get assisted off the field. He returned a few plays later just in time for 4th-and-goal from the 1 where he made the game-saving stuff of running back Edgerrin James. McGinest then went sprinting down the field in celebration, again showing off his miraculous recovery.
Given the way the Patriots of that era bent the rulebook, it always felt probable that McGinest faked his injury to give his defense a breather to conserve energy for a goal-line stand.
The play is so significant as the Patriots finished 14-2 and the Colts finished 12-4 that season. Had the Colts been able to score there, they’d have a home-field advantage tie-breaker over the Patriots that season and wouldn’t have had to go to snowy New England for the 2003 AFC Championship Game, which they lost.
New England’s record-setting 21-game winning streak (2003-04) also wouldn’t exist, so the start of the rivalry had a huge impact on how it is perceived today.
2004 – Terrell Owens (Eagles)
The Eagles added wide receiver Terrell Owens in 2004 as their missing piece to a Super Bowl run. While things were working as planned, Owens was pulled down from behind on a tackle against the Cowboys in Week 15. He fractured his fibula and had a sprained deltoid ligament. The style of the tackle led to this being branded as a “horse-collar tackle” which sparked a new rule outlawing such tackles.
The injury occurred on December 19, and Owens missed the team’s first two playoff games. But miraculously, Owens returned less than two months later in the Super Bowl against the Patriots where he had 9 catches for 122 yards. “I’m on half a leg and they can’t stop me” was his famous sideline quote.
Unfortunately, the Eagles probably should have thrown him the ball more as they still lost 24-21, the first time coach Andy Reid helped Brady secure a dynasty run with his third ring.
Owens never won a Super Bowl, but his performance after the leg injury was incredible.
2005 – Carson Palmer (Bengals)
Back in the 2005 season, Carson Palmer looked like one of the next elite passers in the NFL after an incredible season to win the AFC North for the downtrodden Cincinnati Bengals.
His playoff run started on wild card weekend against the hated Steelers, and his first pass was a 66-yard strike to Chris Henry. But tragedy struck on the play as Palmer’s plant leg was rolled into by Pittsburgh’s Kimo von Oelhoffen, tearing Palmer’s ACL.
While the Bengals still led 10-0 and 17-7 in the game with backup Jon Kitna taking over, the Steelers came back to win 34-17 and went on to become the first No. 6 seed to win the Super Bowl.
No one can say with any certainty what happens if Palmer never gets injured in that game. The Steelers do have a long history of playing the Bengals better in their building than they do at Pittsburgh. But the fact is it was a devastating moment for a young quarterback on the rise, and Palmer was never the same player in Cincinnati after that injury.
2006 – Peyton Manning (Colts)
2006 is not an easy year for good injury examples as a lot of key ones happened at the end of the 2005 season like the shoulder injury that ended Drew Brees’ time in San Diego and the Carson Palmer ACL we just went over.
So, let’s get a little creative and cite the Week 7 game between the Redskins and Colts where Peyton Manning was grabbed around the neck on a high-and-low hit that’s as nasty as you’ll see him go down in a game in his career:
While it only took Manning 20 seconds to get up and call timeout, he was clearly shaken by the hit. He was also fired up as he torched Gregg Williams’ Washington defense for three touchdown passes in the third quarter of that victory.
2006 ended up being Manning’s finest season in terms of engineering drives, throwing under pressure, and it resulted in his first Super Bowl win. Overcoming a big hit like that was key to the type of adversity he’d overcome that season.
But the play obviously had far bigger implications down the road as this was the start of his neck issues that led to four surgeries in 2011.
2007 – Philip Rivers (Chargers)
Poor Philip Rivers. The competitive quarterback spent 17 seasons in the NFL without ever missing a game to injury, yet in the biggest moment of his career, he had to play on a torn ACL. Correction: He chose to play on it as he left the divisional round playoff win in Indianapolis a week earlier while backup Billy Volek led a game-winning drive.
But in the AFC Championship Game against an undefeated New England team, Rivers gave it a go despite tearing his ACL. He didn’t play well, and he was unable to take advantage of Tom Brady throwing three interceptions that day in a 21-12 loss.
It was the closest Rivers ever got to a Super Bowl. However, given what happened in Super Bowl XLII, the underdog Giants beating the Patriots in dramatic fashion, maybe it was for the best this one happened the way it did.
But it does put some real context on the Eli Manning vs. Philip Rivers debate as they were infamously traded for each other on draft day in 2004.
2008 – Tom Brady (Patriots)
While the Patriots lost Super Bowl XLII, they had a chance to go right back to another with a strong roster in 2008 in a season where the Titans were a fraudulent No. 1 seed, the Colts had no running game or defense, and the Steelers had no offensive line.
But in the first quarter of Week 1 against the Chiefs, Tom Brady suffered the only major injury of his 23-year career when Bernard Pollard crashed in on his plant leg, similar to Palmer against the 2005 Steelers, and he tore his ACL.
The Patriots still finished 11-5 and led the league in first downs while averaging 25.0 points per game behind Matt Cassel, but they still missed the playoffs with that record and without Brady.
The Steelers ended up winning the Super Bowl that year, and Pittsburgh happened to dodge the Patriots in all three of their Super Bowl seasons in the Ben Roethlisberger era (2005, 2008, and 2010).
2009 – Dwight Freeney (Colts)
The Colts and Saints were on a collision path all year as both teams started 13-0 in the 2009 season. But while both teams were led by their offenses, the Colts’ major weapon on defense was spin-master Dwight Freeney.
Unfortunately, Freeney suffered a third-degree low-ankle sprain very late in the team’s AFC Championship Game win against the Jets. He tried the best he could to prepare for the Super Bowl in two weeks, and he was able to register a sack of Drew Brees in the second quarter, his only solo tackle.
But with the long halftime show, Freeney’s ankle tightened up and he was ineffective in the second half as the Saints scored on their last four drives to come back and win the game. Brees won MVP honors by completing 32-of-39 passes for 288 yards.
2010 – Aaron Rodgers (Packers)
Some may argue the choice should be Jay Cutler leaving the 2010 NFC Championship Game against Green Bay and being replaced by Caleb Hanie, who threw a pick-six in a 21-14 loss. But given the way Cutler played that day and the way he usually played against the Packers, I’m more content with going back to Aaron Rodgers and the Packers.
That team never trailed by more than 7 points all season but still finished 10-6 because of so many close losses. Rodgers suffered a concussion in Detroit in Week 14, a game Green Bay lost 7-3. A week later, Matt Flynn started at New England, the No. 1 seed, and the Packers almost won that game, showing they could hang with anybody.
Rodgers was able to return in Week 16, and the Packers went 6-0 the rest of the year, defeating the Steelers in Super Bowl XLV. Going the underdog route as the No. 6 seed seemed to help Green Bay much like it did the Steelers in 2005.
To this day, it’s still the only Super Bowl run for Rodgers.
2011 – Peyton Manning (Colts)
Again, the 2006 tackle at Manning’s neck against Washington was the beginning of his neck problem that led to four surgeries in 2011. He ended up missing the entire season for the Colts, who finished 2-14 and were in position to draft Andrew Luck in the 2012 draft.
With Manning missing the entire 2011 season, that ended a 9-year playoff streak for the Colts and gave the Patriots an easier path back to a Super Bowl. However, the 2011 season was also Peak Eli Manning time as he seemed to thrive in a year where he was the only Manning starting games.
He led the Giants to another unbelievable playoff run and was Super Bowl MVP again after beating Belichick’s defense in a classic game.
2012 – Alex Smith (49ers)
The quarterback sneak is usually a safe play, but don’t tell that to 49ers quarterback Alex Smith. It cost him the starting job in Jim Harbaugh’s offense in San Francisco in the 2012 season. After a concussion on a sneak, Smith had to sit out for Colin Kaepernick, who was incredible in his first start against the Bears and gave the 49ers a whole new dynamic with his legs.
Kaepernick remained the starter the rest of the season, beating the Patriots 41-34 in New England, rushing for an NFL record 176 yards against the Packers in a playoff game, and he led a 17-point comeback in Atlanta in the 2012 NFC Championship Game.
He threw for 302 yards in the Super Bowl against the Ravens, almost pulling out a 22-point comeback in that game as well. Smith was traded to the Chiefs after this season while Kaepernick made it to the NFC Championship Game again in 2013.
2013 – Rob Gronkowski (Patriots)
Gronk is no stranger to serious injuries, which is the only reason he’s not the undisputed GOAT at his position. But 2013 was especially rough for him as he spent the offseason having multiple surgeries on his forearm and back, missing the first six games that season.
Brady needed Gronk more than ever that season after Aaron Hernandez was kicked off the team that summer for murderous reasons, and Wes Welker left for Denver. Once Gronk returned, Brady’s numbers shot up, and the Patriots beat Denver in an overtime game to get a head-to-head tie-breaker in the battle for the No. 1 seed.
But Gronk tore his ACL and MCL against Cleveland in Week 4, and a week later, the Patriots had a bad loss to Miami, causing them to settle for the No. 2 seed and losing to the Broncos in the AFC Championship Game.
Had Gronk been available more in 2013, maybe we would have seen the best Seattle team taking on the Patriots a year earlier in the Super Bowl.
2014 – Cliff Avril (Seahawks)
In Super Bowl 49, the Seahawks were trying to repeat against the Patriots, but it’s stunning how injured the Legion of Boom secondary was going into that game:
- Hard-hitting safety Kam Chancellor tore his MCL in practice just days before Super Bowl Sunday, but he still played.
- Corner Richard Sherman tore ligaments in his elbow in the 2014 NFC Championship Game against Green Bay.
- Safety Earl Thomas had a torn labrum in his left shoulder, also suffered against Green Bay, and he had to wear a shoulder harness in the Super Bowl to stabilize the injury.
To make matters worse, slot corner Jeremy Lane intercepted Brady in the first quarter, and on the return, a tackle by Julian Edelman fractured Lane’s arm and tore his ACL, altering his career forever. His replacement, outside corner Tharold Simon, was picked on mercilessly by the slot-happy Patriots.
But the Seahawks may have been able to survive it all and not blow a 24-14 lead in the fourth quarter if pass rusher Cliff Avril didn’t leave with a concussion in the third quarter, suffered on another play where Brady was intercepted.
Avril’s on/off splits in that game were huge for Seattle’s defense, which had no answers for the dink-and-dunk attack by the Patriots in that fourth quarter.
2015 – Peyton Manning (Broncos)
This isn’t a list you want to make three times, but they are all connected in a sense for Manning’s health. The 2006 combo hit led to the 2011 neck surgeries, and that led to the weakened arm strength that forced Manning to put more force and pressure on his legs for throwing power and torque.
It’s no surprise he started having lower-body issues in 2014 with his quadriceps, then in the 2015 season, he suffered a partial tear of the plantar fascia against the Colts, which is reportedly worse than a full tear. But Manning never sat out a game for injury during a season he played, and he was about to set the NFL’s all-time passing yardage record in a home game against the Chiefs he probably shouldn’t have been playing. But he played, and it was by far the worst game of his football career, and he was benched for Brock Osweiler.
Manning then tried to recover while the team won some big games with Osweiler against the Patriots and Bengals that helped them get the No. 1 seed. Games they almost certainly don’t win with Manning in his 2015 state of health.
But in the final game of the year, Osweiler struggled with turnovers, so they put Manning in off the bench for the first time in his career. He led a win and they announced him as the starter for the playoffs. He was running on fumes by that point, but the Denver defense had his back and sent him out with a second Super Bowl ring before retirement.
But it likely never ends that way if he didn’t get the plantar fascia injury. It actually helped Denver in the end to get those key wins against other contenders like the Patriots and Bengals.
2016 – Tony Romo (Cowboys)
This is a tough year as it’s hard to say Teddy Bridgewater (Vikings) was ready to take the league by storm if not for his catastrophic leg injury during training camp. The Patriots still won the Super Bowl with Gronk missing the second half of the year too, and it’s not like they needed injuries from the Falcons to do it – just needed everything else to go their way after 28-3.
So, let’s just go with Tony Romo’s back giving out in the preseason to open the door for Dak Prescott having one of the greatest rookie seasons ever in helping Dallas to a No. 1 seed they squandered in the first playoff game against Green Bay.
Would a veteran Romo have won more with that team after it added Ezekiel Ellott at running back? Hard to say. But maybe they beat Green Bay at home for revenge on the “Dez Caught It” loss for Romo, and then the Falcons would have had to go to Dallas for the NFC Championship Game.
But not a good season for this.
2017 – Carson Wentz (Eagles)
This is an easy one. While some Eagles fans to this day may complain that Carson Wentz was going to win the MVP before he tore his ACL against the Rams in Week 14, just be glad he did. With everything we know now, there’s no way Wentz would have guided the team through that Super Bowl run the way Nick Foles did.
Foles had one of the best postseasons of all time and came up with so many clutch throws against the Patriot in a Super Bowl that featured the most combined yardage in a game in NFL history (yes, it’s still the record today).
While it may suck personally for Wentz, his injury was a blessing in disguise for the Eagles to win their first Super Bowl with that BDE from Foles.
2018 – Cooper Kupp (Rams)
This is another one that sneaks up on you. Cooper Kupp was having an awesome second season for the 2018 Rams as he averaged 70.8 yards per game, caught 72.7% of his passes, and his 10.3 yards per target are a career high.
But he tore his ACL right before the Rams’ epic 54-51 win against the Chiefs on a Monday night in November. The Rams still reached the Super Bowl that year, but they scored just a field goal in a 13-3 loss as Jared Goff forced a deep ball to Brandin Cooks that was intercepted by Stephon Gilmore in a pivotal moment in the fourth quarter.
Given how well Kupp played in the 2021 Super Bowl season for the Rams where he was Super Bowl MVP, it really could have helped to have a dominant receiver like him in that one.
2019 – Patrick Mahomes (Chiefs)
Patrick Mahomes’ first Super Bowl ring teetered on an injury that could have potentially ended his season when he dislocated his kneecap in Denver in Week 7. Mahomes missed the next two games, the Chiefs were 1-1 without him, then he was tentative to scramble in his first game back and the Chiefs blew that game too to the Titans, who were gaining confidence with Ryan Tannehill at quarterback.
That part of the season all led to the Ravens claiming the No. 1 seed while the Chiefs had to settle for No. 2. But in helping the Titans make the tournament, the Chiefs saw them take out the Patriots and Ravens before coming to Arrowhead for the AFC Championship Game where the Chiefs won 35-24.
Mahomes was named Super Bowl MVP for the first time two weeks later. But it all could have been for naught if his knee was at a different angle when he had the misfortune of getting injured on a quarterback sneak like Alex Smith in 2012.
That play is why the Chiefs don’t use him on the sneak anymore, which is still unfortunate as it’s such a cheat code play even without doing the Tush Push.
2020 – Eric Fisher (Chiefs)
One year later, the Chiefs were not so fortunate on the injury front in their attempt to repeat as champions. Late in the 2020 AFC Championship Game against Buffalo, left tackle Eric Fisher tore his Achilles, ending his season.
In Super Bowl LV against the Buccaneers in Tampa Bay, the Chiefs made the bold decision to move around multiple offensive linemen instead of just replacing Fisher with a backup left tackle. They had lost right tackle Mitchell Schwartz earlier in the season.
With such a revamped offensive line with several backups playing, the Chiefs saw a lot of pressure from the Bucs, resulting in 29 pressures on Mahomes in a 31-9 loss.
That was the second time that postseason where Tampa Bay beat a team who lost their Pro Bowl left tackle late in the season as they beat the Packers in the NFC Championship Game after David Bakhtiari was injured in Week 16.
2021 – Lamar Jackson (Ravens)
You know something weird had to happen in 2021 for it to be the only Super Bowl ever where neither team was a top-three seed. The Bengals and Rams were both division winners, but they were both No. 4 seeds. The injury people want to talk about this week in the scope of Haliburton is the way Odell Beckham Jr. tore his ACL in the second quarter of that Super Bowl.
But let’s back things up first. During the regular season, the Ravens were 8-4 going into their December 12th meeting at Cleveland. Lamar Jackson injured his knee early in that game and never played the rest of the season. The Ravens finished 8-9 after losing five of their final six games by a combined 8 points, which is unheard of in the NFL.
Their only blowout loss without Jackson was a 41-21 loss in Cincinnati as the Bengals went from 7-6 on the day Jackson was injured to a 10-7 division winner. But without Jackson’s December injury, it’s quite possible the Ravens win the AFC North instead of the Bengals that year, and we don’t see the Bengals making that Super Bowl run.
Something very similar happened in 2022 and the Ravens were leading the AFC North in December the day Jackson was injured and never played again that season, prompting the Bengals to another division title At least that year, the Bengals still would have been a wild card team at worst.
But as we’ve seen in the years since, when Lamar stays healthy, the Bengals don’t even make the playoffs, let alone win the AFC North.
2022 – Brock Purdy (49ers)
You could really just say San Francisco quarterback injury here as the 49ers somehow lost all three of their main starters to a serious injury in 2022. Trey Lance went down in Week 2, then Jimmy Garoppolo was lost in Week 13.
That led to the unknown Brock Purdy taking over late in the season, and he quickly became the greatest Mr. Irrelevant in NFL history. His stats were stellar, and he delivered a huge game in a playoff win over Seattle, becoming the first rookie since Sammy Baugh in 1937 to throw for over 300 yards and 3 touchdowns in a playoff game.
Purdy had a shot to become the first rookie quarterback to ever start a Super Bowl, but his elbow blew up on a pressure by Haason Reddick on the opening drive of the 2022 NFC Championship Game. Purdy’s arm was dead for the rest of the game, and backup Josh Johnson was also knocked out with a concussion, leaving the 49ers with no viable option to throw the ball in a 31-7 rout.
We’ll never know how that game may have gone if Purdy didn’t get injured so quickly as this is probably the closest comparison in the NFL to what happened to Haliburton.
It could have been Chiefs vs. 49ers (again) a year earlier.
2023 – Aaron Rodgers (Jets)
This is a tough one but hear me out. We’ll never know what a healthy Aaron Rodgers could have done with the Jets as he didn’t last a full drive before he tore his Achilles on opening night against Buffalo in 2023.
Without Rodgers, the Jets were still able to beat the Bills that night, beat the Eagles thanks to their defense a few weeks later, and they beat Houston later in the season. We also saw the Jets in a 20-20 game in the fourth quarter with the Chiefs, denying us once again of seeing a Rodgers vs. Mahomes game that we’re probably never going to get.
The AFC was vulnerable in 2023 as the Chiefs had all those dropped passes and weren’t playing that well late in the season. The Bills were just 6-6 going into their bye. The Ravens are always vulnerable in the playoffs.
People will point to the 5-12 record in 2024 as proof that Rodgers on the Jets was always going to be a bust. Maybe so. But that’s also a 5-12 record with six blown fourth-quarter leads and abysmal special teams play. He wasn’t 5-12 bad for a quarterback at age 41 and a year removed from a torn Achilles.
Like I said, we’ll just never know how it could have gone in New York if Rodgers actually stayed healthy.
2024 – Aidan Hutchinson (Lions)
I suppose one could go with the Rashee Rice torn ACL in September here that Mahomes was accidentally responsible for, putting the offense on a different path while still ultimately getting crushed in the Super Bowl.
But for our final year, let’s go with a defensive player for only the fourth time as Aidan Hutchinson was having a Defensive Player of the Year-caliber season before the Lions lost him in Week 5. He had 7.5 sacks in 4.5 games.
He was by far their best pass rusher and the type of player you need to get through a Super Bowl run. But without him, Detroit’s defense took a step back. The Lions lost a lot of people on defense last year, but you’d trade them all to get Hutchinson back. They were still 15-2 after all.
Does Hutchinson make the difference against Washington in that playoff upset? It’s hard to say. The offense wasn’t helping with Jared Goff contributing too many turnovers and that ill-fated trick play.
But trying to beat a mobile quarterback like Jayden Daniels without your elite pass rusher is certainly a problem, and Hutchinson’s return in 2025 is why the Lions have a shot to remain a top contender.
Plus, it’s sad we didn’t get to see an Eagles at Lions title game to see who the best team really was in the NFC last year as they never met in 2024. But the Lions will be in Philly in Week 11 in 2025.
Could something happen with an injury in that game that becomes the legacy-shaping story of the 2025 season? From our 24 examples above, you simply never know when the moment that changes everything is going to happen.
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