Kovacevic: Be sure to send flowers to Chargers, too, for their stupidity

BALTIMORE -- A sizable cross-section of Steelers Nation might've gone to sleep Sunday night confident that their favorite football team had clinched an AFC playoff berth.

But it wasn't until an extraordinary scene played out in Las Vegas that the asterisk could be officially attached.

Oh, and one extraordinarily stupid decision.

Let's start, though, with the end:

That was Daniel Carlson, soon to carved into marble between George Washington and Franco Harris at our airport, delivering a 47-yard field goal as overtime expired in the Raiders' 35-32 victory over the Chargers in the wee hours of Monday morning, Eastern time, at Allegiant Stadium.

The Steelers, of course, needed three boxes to be checked to make it:

• Beat the Ravens
• Jaguars beat the Colts
• Raiders, Chargers can't tie

The reason for that last one: If those teams tied, they'd both make it, and the Steelers would be bumped.

And as fate would have it in this strangest of seasons across the scope of the football world, the one that seemed least likely -- by far -- came closest to occurring.

The Chargers struck for 15 points in the final 4:28 of regulation to tie the score, 29-29, and to probably send Pittsburghers scurrying under their sheets afraid to watch the rest. And when both teams traded field goals early in overtime, the nightmare scenario became that much more real.

For the athletes, too:

Which is when it became ... interesting.

The Raiders' ultimate possession began at their 25 with 4:30 left, and, by the two-minute warning, they had first down at the Los Angeles 45. Las Vegas running back Josh Jacobs was tackled for a 1-yard loss, then ran for 7 yards on the next snap. So it was third-and-4 at the 34 and, with the Raiders showing little urgency regarding the clock, there were now 38 seconds left.

Which was when the Chargers' coach, Brandon Staley, called a timeout.

The Raiders then turned to Jacobs again, and he burst through left guard for a 10-yard gain to the 27 that set the stage for Carlson, one of the NFL's most reliable kickers, to send only his team to the playoffs and to send the Chargers into the offseason.

And even as all this was playing out, the NBC broadcasters' focus soon became as much about what the Steelers and fans were thinking as in the game itself, social media began concocting Roger Goodell conspiracy theories galore, and the questions piled up within minutes:

Were the Raiders simply set to settle for the tie?

Maybe even to take a knee?

If so, did the Chargers misread that silent intention?

Why call the timeout at all?

What were the Chargers going to do with the ball if they regained possession, since, you know, only a tie was needed?

And really, who or what league or legal entity would've or could've stopped either team from simply communicating an agreement to tie?

(OK, so that last one was just me, but I did think it.)

The answers began to flow almost immediately, in the form of ... attempting to lip-read:

Good luck with that. I've read multiple accounts, and all swear that it's the Chargers' Austin Ekeler being told the Raiders were about to kneel.

When Derek Carr was asked in a formal setting if the timeout shifted Las Vegas' strategy for that third-down play, he flatly answered, "Yeah, definitely," though he didn't elaborate.

But the Raiders' coach, Rich Bisaccia, was asked in his press conference if there'd been any consideration given to just running out the clock and not even attempting a field goal, he came right out and replied, "Yeah, it was a conversation. We were talking about it. I don't know if you ... we ran the ball there, and they didn't call a timeout. So, I think they were probably thinking the same thing. And then, we got the big run, and we felt it was advantageous field-goal position for us. So we went for the field goal to win it."

Sounded like he was done, but he came back with more.

"So, we certainly talked about it on the sideline. We wanted to see if they'd call a timeout or not on that run. They didn't, so we thought they were thinking the same thing. And then we popped the run that gave us a chance to win it. So ... we were certainly talking about it."

Yeah, Coach, but were you talking about it?

Ha!

Here's the full answer in video form:

Naturally, Staley was asked if he felt his timeout influenced the Raiders.

"I don't think it changed their mindset because they were gonna run the ball on the play before," Staley replied. "And then, they ran the ball on the very next play. So, we wanted to make sure we got our run defense in there. And we obviously didn't execute well enough. ... My mindset was to make the field goal as long as possible."

Video on that:

Staley's 39 and just completed his first season as an NFL head coach. He's heavy on analytics and tries strategies that others at his level don't, most visibly eschewing punts at every opportunity. I'll bet he winds up having more success than failure with that approach over time.

But dude ... read the room.

All I'm thinking in watching this from afar is how it couldn't be clearer the Raiders were content to let this go.

And here, by the way, is how those NBC broadcasters, Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth, reacted in real time to the timeout:

Yeah, like that.

Whatever. No one around here's about to complain about any of this. Once they catch up on their Zs, anyway.

My main Steelers column for the day is right here.