Rams had slip up in wild game against Lions in 1999

The Rams might be having their best season since the Greatest Show on Turf in 1999, which makes this week a good opportunity to remember what L.A. must not do again if they want to secure the NFC’s number one seed in the playoffs: Don’t have a slip up against the Detroit Lions.

It was Week 9 and the Lions were a surprising 5-2 after beating the likes of the Seahawks, Packers, Vikings, Panthers, and Bucs (all five finished .500 or better in 1999) with a home date against the more-surprising Rams at 6-1.

The Rams could do no wrong under Kurt Warner that season but were coming off of a Super Bowl foreshadowing loss to the Titans, 24-21. This game between the Rams and Lions could have decided the number one seed and it was leaning Detroit’s way at midseason after they beat St. Louis 31-27 that day to improve to 6-2.

What happened after Week 9 was anything but what you would have expected.

First, here’s a recap of the game from Chris Berman:

The game started with a perfect punt by Rick Tuten, which is a lot like the perfect punt from Ethan Evans against the Seahawks a few weeks ago. On the next play, London Fletcher makes a tackle for a safety and a 2-0 Rams lead.

Warner and Charlie Batch traded touchdown passes, while Jason Hanson and Jeff Wilkins traded field goals, and the halftime score stood at 12-10 in the Rams favor.

Suddenly, Batch loses the feeling in his right thumb (???) and is replaced by Gus Frerotte and he gives Detroit a 18-12 lead on a fourth down touchdown pass in the third quarter and a 2-point conversion. St Louis’s next drive goes nowhere and the Lions tack on a field goal to make it 21-12.

Cut to the fourth quarter, Warner throws a 75-yard touchdown to Az-Zahir Hakim and then after another Hanson field goal, Warner throws a touchdown to TACKLE ELIGIBLE Ryan Tucker for a 25-24 lead. Isaac Bruce scores on the 2-point conversion to give the Rams a 3-point lead with under 3 minutes to play.

Then a defense that had pretty much gotten the job done all day long by forcing field goals gets Frerotte into a 4th-and-26 situation after a D’Marco Farr sack. Game over, right?

Fre-wrong.

Frerotte throws a 57-yard pass to Germane Crowell to put the Lions in field goal range. A costly pass interference penalty on Dexter McCleon gives the Lions first and 10 from the 12 with :33 seconds, which turns into a 12-yard touchdown pass to Johnnie Morton. Warner throws a desperation interception to end the game and the Lions shock the Rams 31-27 to take the lead in the NFC playoff race.

What an insane game!

And it could have been the moment that the Detroit Lions — not the St. Louis Rams — became the darlings of the 1999 season…until we got to Week 10, that is.

What happened next ------------------...