Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory

by NW_Colts_Fan on Nov 18, 2009 2:15 AM EST

Sunday night's game against the Patriots reminded me of something I had once heard, when a team loses a game when they were leading at half time, they were out coached. They failed to make the right adjustments at half time to put the game away. I'm sure this is an over simplification, but I thought I'd look into it anyways.

I went through this years games to see how many games teams won when trailing at half time, and how many games teams lost when they were leading at half time.

There were a few surprises in the results

Team	Won When Trailing at Halftime	Lost when ahead at Halftime	Differential	Overall Record
Vikings	3	0	+3	8-1

Colts	2	0	+2	9-0
Saints	2	0	+2	9-0
Cardinals	2	0	+2	6-3
Jaguars	2	0	+2	5-4

Bengals	3	1	+2	7-2
Broncos	3	1	+2	6-3
Redskins	3	1	+2	3-6

Titans	1	0	+1	5-4
Bears	1	0	+1	4-5

Cowboys	2	1	+1	6-3
Texans	2	1	+1	5-4

Falcons	0	0	0	5-4
Eagles	0	0	0	5-4
Raiders	0	0	0	2-7

Dolphins	1	1	0	4-5
Bucs	1	1	0	1-8

Ravens	0	1	-1	5-4
Chargers	0	1	-1	6-3
Giants	0	1	-1	5-4
Packers	0	1	-1	5-4
Chiefs	0	1	-1	2-7
Browns	0	1	-1	1-8

Panthers	1	2	-1	4-5
Jets	1	2	-1	4-5
Bills	1	2	-1	3-6
Seahawks	1	2	-1	3-6

Steelers	0	2	-2	6-3
Lions	0	2	-2	1-8
Rams	0	2	-2	1-8

Patriots	1	3	-2	6-3

49ers	0	3	-3	4-5

The first thing that stood out is that despite the 8-1 record, the Vikings have trailed at halftime in 4 of their 9 games, but do a good job in adjusting to the other team.

The next thing I noticed which starts to debunk the theory is that for being a coach in the hot seat, Jim Zorn has 3 come from behind victories. Given that those 3 victories are his only victories helps explain why he is in the hot seat.

It is also interesting to note that the Patriots seem to go into games well prepared, and have only trailed once going into half-time (they lead the league here). However they also lead the league in the number of times they have blown a half time lead (They've had 8 opportunities to do so). So while they have a good game plan, they don't seem to be able to adjust as well as some of the teams at the top of the list.

It will be interesting to see which teams will be looking for new coaches at the end of the year.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Stampede Blue's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Stampede Blue's writers or editors.

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