#6 Flipping Out on Thanksgiving - Top 10 Most Embarrassing NFL Moments

Back to Thanksgiving we go and in 1998, the team that has played in the most Turkey Day games, the Detroit Lions were hosting the Pittsburgh Steelers. The game headed into overtime where of course there was a coin toss to decide who got first possession. As the coin was flipped into the air by referee Phil Luckett, the Steelers representative Jerome “Bus” Bettis called for “tails.” But Luckett swore that the Bus called “tails.” The coin landed as tails, Detroit won the toss and then proceeded to march downfield to kick a game-winning field goal.

Bettis tried to argue that he had called tails, but in watching the replay, if you listen very closely, the Bus started saying heads then switched to tails. Unfortunately for the Steelers, they were 7-4 before this game went down and would go on to lose the remaining games of the season-ending 1998 with five straight losses and out of the playoffs. Because of this incident, the rules were forever changed where on a coin toss, the referees ask first before ever flipping the coin.

See how this all went down on YouTube at this link.