If you love ties, and who doesn't, then the Cardinals-Seahawks game on Sunday night had everything you could ever possibly want in an NFL game.
Thanks in large part to Seattle kicker Steven Hauschka and Arizona's Chandler Catanzaro, who both missed field goals from under 30 yards in the final 3:25 of overtime, the game ended with a 6-6 score, giving us the NFL's first tie since 2014.
Even Samuel L. Jackson was baffled.
You got ONE JOB, Kick the MUPFOUGHYYNN BALL!!! WTF?! Both Kickers!
— Samuel L. Jackson (@SamuelLJackson) October 24, 2016
Although ties aren't that rare in the NFL -- there have been four since 2012 -- a tie where neither team scores a touchdown is extremely rare. As a matter of fact, it's rarer than a perfect game in baseball. Before Sunday, a tie game that ended with no touchdowns being scored had never happened since the advent of sudden death overtime in 1974.
That's right, if you sat through the entire game on Sunday night, then you witnessed history, so make sure to pat yourself on the back.
Another odd thing about Sunday's game was the final score. Since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, there have only been a total of three games that have ended with a 6-6 score, and you're not going to believe this, but they all involved the Cardinals.
While they were in St. Louis, the Cardinals played to a 6-6 tie in both 1970 (vs. the Chiefs) and 1972 (vs. the Eagles). From 1970 to 1973, there was no overtime, so ties were a lot more prevalent. However, even under the old rules, a final score of 6-6 was pretty uncommon, unless the Cardinals were playing.
The Cardinals also played to a 6-6 tie in 1937 while they were located in Chicago, meaning that they've hit the impossible trifecta of playing to the same final score in three different cities.
One other thing about ties: If you're watching an NFC West game, there's like a 90 percent chance you're going to see one.
Since 2012, when the NFL changed the overtime rule to give both teams a possession -- unless a touchdown is scored on the opening possession -- there have been a total of four ties.
Of those four games, the NFC West has produced two, while the rest of the NFL combined has produced two. (The other NFC West tie was between the Rams and 49ers in 2012).
Basically, if you watch an NFC West game going forward, always keep in mind that there's 90 percent chance the game could end in a tie. Actually, the exact percentage is 3.7 percent.
Through Week 7 of this year, the NFC West has played 54 division games against each other since 2012 and two have ended in ties. That's two out of 54.
To put that in perspective, the rest of the NFL -- including NFC West games against non-divisional opponents -- has played two ties in 1,083 games since 2012, which means there's only a 0.18 percent chance you'll see a tie in a game that doesn't involve NFC West teams.
