The Browns Last-Second Safety Gave Bettors An All-Time Bad Beat To Lose To The Ravens By 5

Early in the second half on Monday evening, it appeared as if the Baltimore Ravens may cruise to a win over the Cleveland Browns. Lamar Jackson and company took a 28-14 lead with 12:47 to go in the third quarter but, from there, chaos ensured. In fact, the Ravens and Browns came together for what may have been the game of the year, with Jackson coming out of the locker room to throw an immediate touchdown pass and lead the eventual game-winning drive in the final seconds.

The Ravens secured the victory when Justin Tucker nailed a 55-yard field goal but, because Tucker’s kick went through the uprights with two seconds remaining, the Browns had the chance to attempt a miracle. Instead, however, Cleveland delivered a horrendous bad beat to many individuals nationwide, as the Browns… inadvertently took a safety.

To be somewhat fair, the consensus closing line was Ravens -3, so this went from a push to a loss for most individuals. In fact, Baltimore was less than a field goal favorite early in the week, so many may have lost on Cleveland before the safety even happened. Unfortunately, some shops were dealing Ravens -3.5 by kickoff, though, and those people got the worst of this one when the score went from 45-42 to 47-42 in mesmerizing fashion.

Observers of the point spread knew what transpired in real time and, in case anyone didn’t know, ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt took to the air immediately with a shrug while his producer Stanford Steve cackled knowingly in the background.

Bad beats are a staple of Van Pelt’s show but, in this case, it would be difficult to overstate how ugly this really was. That is especially true for anyone holding a Browns +3.5 ticket, because that was an all-timer. Regardless, the Ravens winning the game by five points forced a lot of money to change hands, both off-shore and in the desert, and this will go down in the annals of bad beat history.