Saturday night's AFC Wild Card game saw a new chapter in the long and unfortunate history of "Chargering." After forcing five turnovers in the first half to take a 27-0 lead over the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Los Angeles Chargers proceeded to blow that lead with dire consequences -- including for one front-running bettor.
According to Darren Rovell of Action Network, a bettor put down a $1.4 million bet on an in-game moneyline through DraftKings Sportsbook after the Chargers raced out to a 27-0 lead. It was seemingly a low-risk, low-reward bet, as the payout at -12500 would only have netted a gain of $11,200.
Unfortunately for that bettor, the Chargers only scored three points the rest of the game while the Jaguars came to life in the second half, with a 36-yard field goal by Riley Patterson completing Jacksonville's comeback and dooming the Chargers to a 31-30 loss.
When the Chargers went up 27-0, a bettor bet $1.4 million on them to win the game to net $11,200.
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) January 15, 2023
Jacksonville came back and won 31-30.@DKSportsbook has confirmed that this bet was indeed made. pic.twitter.com/TvwCNyEjyr
The Chargers' collapse not only contributed to the franchise's long history of playoff letdowns, but it was also a historically bad way to lose a playoff game. It was the second-greatest blown lead in NFL playoff history, ranking second only to "The Comeback," the fabled return the Buffalo Bills made from a 33-point deficit against the Houston Oilers to win in the 1992 Wild Card Round.
After a Cameron Dicker field goal gave the Chargers a 30-14 lead late in the third quarter, the Chargers proceeded to surrender 17 unanswered points, including 11 in the third quarter after a Christian Kirk touchdown, a Trevor Lawrence two-point conversion and Patterson's winning field goal.
