The Loop
The things that had to happen for this 12-team, $50,000 NFL parlay to hit will give you second-hand anxiety
The allure of the parlay in sports gambling often outweighs the fact that it's a total sucker bet. "I can spend very little and maybe win a lot?! That sounds great!" you say. Until the first leg of your three-team parlay is already lost within the first five minutes of a game and you realize that was a really stupid way to spend $10.
But if you're extremely lucky, you could one day hit on one of these impossible bets. For a dope like me, that's a five-teamer... MAX. I did it once with five college basketball games, a $5 parlay for the whopping payout of $125. Imagine that being your parlay claim to fame? Loserville.
For this dude that I'm totally not jealous of, it was the ultimate, impossible parlay: a 12-team, NFL parlay that returned him $50,000:
To the guy that hit on this, from the bottom of my heart, f--- you congrats. Some of us dream about hitting on a three-teamer for a paltry $50. A 12-teamer for $50,000 is the stuff of legends. As much as any of us would love to hit on something similar, I'm not sure if I could handle that type of stress. Let's break down the things that had to happen in chronological order, which will give you second-hand anxiety.
First up was the Texans -6.5 and the over at 41.5. With the Jets leading 22-19 and five minutes to play, both of those hitting was basically impossible. But thanks to DeAndre Hopkins, a QUICK turnover on downs from the Jets, and a Texans field goal, the over hit and so did the spread... by half a point. That was just two of the 12 bets.
Then there was the Browns +2.5, which looked great with Cleveland leading 17-13 late. Had Denver coach Vance Joseph had any guts, he would have had his team go for it on 4th & 1 from the Browns six-yard line, likely scoring a touchdown on one of the next few plays. That plus the extra point makes it 20-17. Instead, he kicked a field goal to make it 17-16, which ended up being the final, hitting the under in the process. Four down, EIGHT to go!
The Vikings and Bengals games covered without any issue, which was not the case with Ravens-Bucs. Baltimore covered by half a point thanks to Tampa Bay going for the two-point conversion and missing after scoring the first touchdown of the game to lead 6-0. Sick coaching!
After that, there were two easy ones with the Detroit-Buffalo under and the Falcons -8.5. The Bears game was not nearly as stress-free, as Aaron Rodgers had two opportunities to slip through the backdoor and cover the spread. The first drive, he threw an unlucky pick in the Bears end zone with 3:04 remaining. Instead of hanging on until the final whistle, Chicago punted it back to Rodgers, who got down to the Chicago nine-yard line and had 1st & goal with 31 seconds remaining. The Bears defense held strong, forcing a field goal and recovering the onside kick to cover.
And that was all in the 1 p.m. slot of games! This guy had just one game in the 4 p.m. slot, where it all could have blown up in his face. But he could breathe easy with a full five minutes left, when Sebastian Janikowski tied the game at 23-23 with a field goal to hit the over. Few better ways to win $50,000 than on a Janikowski field goal, not to mention he was responsible for handing Seattle six points by saying "nah, I'm good," instead of tackling kick returner Richie James Jr. What a wild, emotional Sunday for this winner, who is now 50 grand richer and likely 10 years older after going through that.