Biggest 4th Quarter Comebacks in NFL History

We’ve all done it. Sitting there, sticking with an NFL football game when our team is trailing drastically heading into the fourth quarter. We groan a bit. We complain about the officiating or bad play calling. And deep down, we just hope and pray our team can be the next to pull off a stunning comeback.

As a fan in the NY sports betting market, or just a fan in general, you might find yourself watching a game and wondering if it’s the right time to make a long-shot bet on a fourth-quarter resurgence. How far is just too far to come back from?

This page examines the biggest fourth-quarter comebacks in NFL history. Which teams. When. Where. All the key information about how the game played out. With that knowledge, we hope to give you some insight into whether live betting on NFL games is worth the risk.

Live betting on 4th quarter NFL comebacks

First, before we get into the actual history of the NFL’s biggest fourth quarter comebacks, we need to explain why you should be interested in live betting.

Live betting, also known as in-game betting, has become extremely popular in recent years thanks to the growing availability of online and mobile betting. As more states add and regulate online sports betting sites, the more popular these bets are going to get.

The basic explanation is live betting happens as the game is unfolding. Odds can change with the action on the screen, and you can bet on anything from which player will score the next touchdown to what team will lead at the end of a particular quarter to if a team can come back to win the game in the final minutes.

Those odds shift constantly throughout the game, and in some cases the potential return on a bet on a comeback is staggering. There’s a reason for that, of course, and it’s because the vast majority of teams with a significant lead heading into the final quarter of play are still going to win. You’re taking a huge risk putting your money down on what would no doubt be deemed a miracle of sorts.

Of course, placing a wager on a large fourth quarter comeback is hardly going to be the bet that pays out the most often for you. But if it’s a game that is possibly within reach? Well, that sounds like a lot of fun. But what if? That’s the draw to it all, isn’t it? Can you catch lightning in that bottle and have it pay off big time?

That’s what makes these bets so intriguing and, frankly, quite fun. If you want to learn more about live betting, follow our link to a guide on how live bets work, how to download betting apps, and how you can use them to your advantage as part of your overall betting strategy.

The NFL’s largest 4th quarter comebacks ever

So what are the greatest fourth quarter comebacks in NFL history? Here are some of our favorites:

1. Tampa Bay Buccaneers at St. Louis Cardinals — Nov. 8, 1987

Coach Ray Perkins must have felt pretty confident heading into the fourth quarter as his Bucs led the struggling Cardinals 28-3. Fans were getting up and exiting Busch Stadium in St. Louis, upset that their hometown Cardinals were looking so heinous. But the Cardinals? Well, they weren’t quite convinced that they should call it a day.

Neil Lomax stepped back in the pocket and found Robert Awalt on a four-yard pass to cut into the Buccaneers’ lead, and following an extra point conversion by kicker Jim Gallery, the score was 28-10.

But 18 points, especially with time creeping off the clock, still was so much to overcome.

Thankfully the defense stepped up, too. Niko Noga grabbed a fumble off the turf and raced 24 yards for a defensive touchdown. Gallery hit the extra point again, and suddenly the Cardinals looked alive, trailing 28-17.

But the comeback effort still needed a boost. Lomax took it upon himself to lead his team down the field, scoring on the next two drives with touchdown passes to J.T. Smith. The first was from 11 yards out and the second came from 17. With Gallery perfect on the day with his extra points, the Cardinals put 28 unanswered points on the board in the fourth quarter for a 31-28 victory.

“We should just play the second half,” quipped Lomax after the game.

2. Minnesota Vikings at Philadelphia Eagles — Dec. 1, 1985

The ’80s must have just been wild for NFL fans. The game was evolving. New teams were emerging. Stars were popping up on just about every roster in the league.

For the Minnesota Vikings and Coach Bud Grant, the first day of December wasn’t looking so fun, however. They found themselves in the precarious position of trailing the Eagles 23-0 heading into the fourth quarter.

Quarterback Wade Wilson probably felt a sense of relief when his pass to Allen Rice went seven yards and into the end zone for the team’s first score of the afternoon. Jan Stenerud nailed the point-after kick to make it a 23-7 game.

The defense must have thought the scoring looked like a lot of fun, because Willie Teal scooped up a loose ball and outran the Eagles on a 65-yard jaunt across the goal line. The extra point made it 23-14, with the Eagles still in control of the game.

Wilson found his stride, and receiver Anthony Carter tore apart the defensive secondary as the duo combined for two scores in the final minutes of the fourth quarter to secure the unlikely comeback victory for the Vikings. Carter snagged touchdown passes of 36 and 42 yards, and Stenerud came through with the extra points to make it a 28-23 final in favor of Minnesota.

3. Miami Dolphins at New York Jets — Oct. 23, 2000

It’s hard to believe it with the way these two teams have performed lately, but there was a time in the 2000s that they were pretty decent. Sure, they weren’t winning Super Bowls, but they were keeping the fans happy with a few wins.

On this particular Monday night, Miami fans were pretty smug heading into the fourth quarter. The Dolphins had a 30-7 lead behind some impressive play across their entire roster, with three field goals coming from Olindo Mare, two rushing touchdowns from Lamar Smith and a touchdown pass from Jay Fiedler to Leslie Shepherd.

The Jets had managed to put up a touchdown of their own in the second quarter, with Vinny Testaverde finding Wayne Chrebet on a 10-yard pass. John Hall’s kick gave the New York squad seven points.

But the fourth quarter would prove to be something grand for Jets fans, while Miami fans could only hold their heads in their hands and wonder what was transpiring on the field.

The Jets took the ball down the field to start the fourth quarter, and Testaverde found Laveranues Coles with a 30-yard pass to make it a 30-13 game. Four minutes later, their deficit shrank to 30-20 thanks to a 1-yard pass from Testaverde and an extra point from Hall.

Hall, who missed the extra point on the first touchdown of the fourth quarter, made up for it with a 34-yard field goal about four minutes later to cut the Miami lead to 30-23. Less than two minutes later, the Jets struck again, this time on a 24-yard pass from Testaverde to Jermaine Wiggins. Hall’s kick made it a 30-30 game.

Miami would prove it wasn’t quite done, though. The Dolphins scored just 22 seconds later as Fiedler hit Shepherd for a 46-yard touchdown. Mare hit the kick to put Miami back in the lead, 37-30.

Time continued to tick off the clock as the Jets pushed their way down the field again. The clock had just 42 seconds remaining in regulation when Testaverde found Jumbo Elliot (yes, the offensive tackle) on a three-yard pass into the end zone for a score. Hall’s extra point tied the game once again, 37-37.

In overtime, the Jets managed to get Hall within range, and he hit a 40-yard field goal to seal the comeback victory for New York.

4. Indianapolis Colts at Minnesota Vikings — Dec. 18, 2022

The 2022 Minnesota Vikings thrived on close games. Call them the “cardiac kids” for that. Put it this way: the Vikings became the third team in NFL history to win 10 games in a season by eight points or fewer.

In Week 15 against the lowly Indianapolis Colts, the cardiac kids became the Minneapolis Miracle Workers. Even if the Vikings probably shouldn’t have been in that position.

The Colts went into the game as losers in six of their previous seven games. They had an interim head coach and were coming off a 35-point loss in Dallas that saw Indy get outscored 33-0 in the fourth quarter.

On the flip side, the Vikings sat at 10-3, the top of the NFC class and a win away from securing the NFC North title.

Indianapolis, though, went off in the first half. The offense put up 33 points over the first two quarters, the team’s highest output in eight games. And just the third time all season Indy eclipsed 21 points. In one half.

Apparently that was the problem: The Colts had to play two more quarters.

Minnesota trailed 33-0 at the half and 36-14 as the third quarter closed. But just as the Cowboys did the previous week, the Vikings exploded in the fourth quarter, scoring 22 unanswered points to tie the game at 36 at the end of regulation.

In overtime, after trading punts with Indianapolis, the Vikings took over at their own 18-yard line with 1:41 on the clock. In five plays, Minnesota traversed 60 yards, ultimately setting up the game-winning 40-yard field goal by Greg Joseph to complete the biggest comeback in NFL history.

The previous record was 32 points, as executed by the Buffalo Bills in a 41-38 win over the Houston Oilers in the 1992 playoffs.

5. Philadelphia Eagles at New York Giants — Dec. 19, 2010

You know it’s one heck of a comeback when the game gets its own nickname. This one goes down in history as the “Miracle at the Meadowlands.”

The Eagles, coached by current Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, were visiting the Giants, coached by Tom Coughlin, on a Sunday afternoon with over 81,000 fans in attendance.

There was no love lost between these two teams as the game wore on, and the Giants looked to be in absolute control after starting the fourth quarter with a touchdown pass from Eli Manning to Kevin Boss following an Eagles’ fumble. Lawrence Tynes’ kick gave the Big Blue Wrecking Crew a 31-10 lead with just 8:17 left in the game.

But rivalries are a funny thing, and the Eagles weren’t counting themselves out of anything. With Michael Vick behind center, he led the team on a quick drive that resulted in a 65-yard touchdown pass to Brent Celek down the middle of the field at the 7:28 mark. David Akres connected on the point-after attempt to cut into the Giants’ lead, 31-17.

Exactly two minutes later and thanks to an onside kick recovery, Vick took the ball into the end zone himself, scoring on a 4-yard rush to make it 31-24 following the successful extra point.

The stands were abuzz — excitement and disbelief, depending on if you were wearing blue or green at the time — as Vick found Jeremy Maclin on a 13-yard pass with just 1:16 left in the game. Akers once again split the uprights to tie the game, 31-31.

The Giants didn’t have much time to work with, and after failing to move the ball down the field to run out the clock, they punted it deep with 14 seconds remaining with the expectation of heading into overtime. But it wasn’t how the football gods decided this one was supposed to go down, as DeSean Jackson bobbled the punt and dropped it, managed to recover it and broke through the Giants’ punt coverage for a 65-yard touchdown return — with quite a bit of showboating at the end — to seal the victory for Philly.

What are the odds of an NFL 4th quarter comeback?

To be honest, it’s hard to really nail down an exact number. It varies year to year, but in a typical NFL regular season you’ll find somewhere around 10% of games feature a fourth quarter comeback victory. That might be less than you’d expect, given how margins in NFL games often tend to shrink toward the end as leading teams play a cautious “prevent” style and trailing teams open up their playbooks.

If we want to dive in even deeper, consider how some of the league’s top QB’s have made their mark by exhibiting such memorable late-game heroics.

According to Pro Football Reference, at the start of the 2024 season the most career fourth quarter comebacks (sometimes called 4QC) by a quarterback (since 1950) currently stands at 46, a mark held by Tom Brady. Peyton Manning is second with 43, followed by Ben Roethlisberger (41), Matt Ryan (38), and Drew Brees (36). Moving down the list, current quarterbacks include Matthew Stafford (35, 6th), Russell Wilson (31, tied for 9th), and Derek Carr (28, tied for 14th).

Note, however, how many Hall of Famers or Hall of Famers-to-be are among those names. Meanwhile, there are many top-level QBs in the league right now who only have a handful of 4CQ’s to their credit. Patrick Mahomes, for example, is way down the list, just barely in the top 80 with 14 fourth quarter comebacks to his credit. That’s just two per year for his seven seasons in the league (although to be fair, he barely played as a rookie).

Of course, as a top QB, Mahomes has often had his team in the lead during the fourth quarter, thereby reducing the number of overall chances to record 4CQ.

The bottom line is that fourth quarter comebacks do happen, but hardly enough to be counted on or considered “favorites” to occur. That means when you’re live betting and decide to pull the trigger and back a team that’s behind at the start of the last period, you want to find favorable odds and generous payouts no matter the situation.

What fourth quarter live bets work with a comeback bet?

If you’ve got that feeling the team you’re about to wager on is going to earn that coveted fourth quarter comeback victory, then there are a few in game bets you can make to complement that wager.

For moneyline bets, you can bet on the home or away team to win outright, or choose which of the teams will score the most points in the fourth quarter. For spread bets, you can bet on if a team will cover the specified point spread for the fourth quarter. If you like to eager on totals, aka over/unders, then you’ll likely be able to place a wager on if the total fourth quarter points will be more or less than a specified number.

For prop bets, you can expect that a quarterback’s numbers are going to skyrocket (as will receiving yards) while rushing numbers will tend to drop for the team that is trailing. The number of passes and completions thrown, as well as the number of receptions, will also climb. And don’t forget about special teams because you can expect there will be more scoring from the field goal and extra point units, as well as an increased possibility of less-common plays like a fake field goal or an onside kick.

And, finally, you’ll most likely also have the opportunity to wager on if the fourth quarter will be the highest scoring quarter of the entire game, which, if it has been a fairly low-scoring affair already, is quite likely if a team mounts a comeback.

Combine some of those bets with your instincts that a team might be in line for a fourth quarter comeback, and you could walk away with a nice return on your bet slip.

Comparing sportsbook odds vs. real odds

You can always guarantee that the odds presented in a sportsbook will be tilted in favor of the house. It is a business, after all, and the sportsbook is in the industry so it can make money.

If the odds are really lopsided, it’s because the oddsmakers don’t expect the team to be able to put enough of a game together to earn the win. If they are less so, then that comeback victory is a bit more likely.

There are no real-world odds that will match up with those presented by a sportsbook for the simple reason that such lines wouldn’t be very attractive to most sports bettors. If a quarterback only has a chance to win about 5% of all the games they’ll ever play in the NFL, then that’s not really going to get bettors putting money down.

Kick those odds up, make the potential return an impressive one, and suddenly interest is piqued, however.

But keep in mind that while the likelihood of you winning a bet on a fourth quarter comeback victory is very, very slim, the possibility always exists out there, especially when the ball is in the hands of a top-rated quarterback on a top-rated team. That’s the beauty of the NFL after all — any team can win on any given day, even sometimes when they are down late.