Bengals-Panthers tie 37-37 after Mike Nugent misses potential game-winner in OT

Mike Nugent had the opportunity to get the Bengals a win in OT, but missed a relatively easy field goal, leaving Cincinnati knotted with the Panthers after five quarters of play, and leaving both sides with not a win, not a loss, but a sister-kissing tie.

Nugent had a 36-yarder for the win right from the middle of the hashmarks, an easy one for an NFL kicker. But he pushed it well right:

There was no time left on the clock in overtime after the miss, and there’s no double overtime in the NFL unless it’s a playoff game.

The game was in OT because of a Graham Gano 44-yard field goal that split the uprights with the clock at zeros in regulation. Nugent hit a 32-yard field goal on the Bengals’ first drive of overtime, but because of the NFL’s modified sudden death rules, that didn’t end the game: it merely meant that the game would end if the Panthers failed to match on their next drive. Instead, Gano hit 36-yarder with 2:24 to go, and the Bengals’ second and final drive of the period ended up with Nugent’s miss.

This was the 20th tie since the NFL instituted overtime in 1974, and the third since the NFL changed the overtime rules in 2012. This is the highest-scoring tie in NFL history -- the previous record was held by a 34-34 game between the Falcons and Steelers in 2002.

When the Eagles and Bengals tied in 2008 -- the first NFL tie since 2002 -- Donovan McNabb famously said he had no idea games could end in ties. We then saw three full seasons without a tie, a streak that ended in 2012 when the 49ers and Rams tied after a scoreless OT. It happened again last year when the Packers tied the Vikings, after which several Packers expressed confusion about the tie rule.

Overtime rules state that a TD on any drive ends the game, and that the game reverts to sudden death after the first team fails to score a touchdown on the opening possession. When it comes to the NFL standings, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss when calculating win percentage, which ultimately decides which teams make the playoffs. So the 3-2-1 Panthers have a .583 winning percentage, and the 3-1-1 Bengals have a .700 winning percentage.

Coach Ron Rivera expressed apathy:

Whereas DeAngelo Williams felt happiness after seeing mediocrity snatched from defeat: