Also-rans left wondering where it all went wrong in sprint to playoffs

Bad penalties, bad coaching. And a whole lot of bad decisions.

They happened all over the NFL on Sunday

The Jacksonville Jaguars, Arizona Cardinals, Los Angeles Chargers and Atlanta Falcons are all shaking their heads about how they blew big games in the midst of the playoff run.

At least the Carolina Panthers went down gambling, missing a 2-point conversion. The pass play would have worked, but Cam Newton missed a wide-open receiver in the end zone.

The other clubs either made suspect choices or played not to lose.

And, naturally, they lost.

"This is as tough as it gets," Jaguars defensive end Calais Campbell said after his team blew a 16-0 lead to Pittsburgh and lost on a last-second TD by Ben Roethlisberger.

"There are going to be some games you definitely lose and you'll definitely win. But when it comes down to that last play, and you're on the losing side of it, it hurts ... especially in a situation where we're a desperate team in need of a win."

And a team that got too comfortable with a 16-point edge.

Jacksonville stopped being as aggressive as it had been earlier in dominating the Steelers, and pretty much dropped from postseason contention at 3-7.

"If people in here are content - not saying anybody is - but if people are content with losing and things not going right, that's not the type of guys you want on the team and that's not the type of environment you want to have," said cornerback Jalen Ramsey.

The environment might be worse in Arizona, where rookie coach Steve Wilks watched his club make several critical errors down the stretch, leading to a 23-21 loss to Oakland.

The Raiders were the only team with just one victory heading into the weekend.

A dropped pass by running back David Johnson hurt the Cards, and an penalty for unnecessary roughness to tight end Jermaine Gresham cost 15 yards and stopped the clock.

On the next play, Johnson ran 57 yards for what was sure to be the clinching score, only to have the play called back on a holding call against tight end Ricky Seals-Jones.

Two plays later, the Cardinals punted. The Raiders then drove 63 yards and won as the clock expired on Daniel Carlson's 35-yard field goal.

"It was just a dumb play by me," Gresham, a nine-year veteran, said after the game.

"I turned around and saw my guy on the ground. We're not coached to that. We're not taught that. They didn't bring me in here to do that, and it was stupid. I cost us the game."

Not entirely, but he helped.

The Chargers had plenty of culprits, too. Their six-game winning string ended when a conservative defense couldn't prevent Denver from going 86 yards in 1:51 for Brandon McManus' winning 34-yard field goal as time expired.

Los Angeles made mistakes throughout, hardly looking like a wild-card frontrunner.

Quarterback Philip Rivers threw two interceptions and on a third-down play on LA's final drive, he seemed to panic and threw the ball at a receiver's feet.

That led to a punt, but also gave Denver more time for its final drive.

The Chargers committed 14 penalties, including 10 in the first half. Mike Badgley, who booted three field goals, also missed an extra point as Denver won 23-22.

"The crucial mistakes that we've been able to stay away from, we didn't today," Rivers said.

Championship candidates avoid those, especially against a weaker opponent.

Atlanta has had plenty of reasons to struggle, particularly a slew of early-season injuries that have worn on a good roster. But the Falcons had won three straight before a poor performance in Cleveland and they exacerbated their issues with a painful-to-watch showing late in a 22-19 loss to Dallas on Sunday.

Four of the team's six losses have come either on the opponent's final possession or with the Falcons denied on their final opportunity.

Simply put, Atlanta has folded under pressure.

"It's aggravating at the end of the day," said cornerback Robert Alford. "We did some good things today. We can't just hold our heads down. But at the end of the day we've got to learn to finish games."

This time, the Cowboys had little difficulty moving 51 yards to Brett Maher's winning 42-yard kick.

If your team is going to lose late, at least do it the way Carolina did - going for it, not backing off or making egregious errors.

"When you make some errors like we made today in critical moments, you open yourselves up to get beat, and that's what happened," Rivers said.

"We had every opportunity to close it out, and we just didn't get it done."

Associated Press