One Moment

If you were watching the AFC Championship game the other night, you saw how the game wound up, with Kansas City's quarterback Patrick Mahomes scooting out of bounds after making a first down at the Bengals' 42-yard line. 

Had nothing else happened there, they might still be playing, because the 42 is way too far away for a field goal, and there were only 8 seconds left in the game. 

But something did happen, and that was Bengals defender Joseph Ossai committing an obvious penalty, pushing Mahomes to the ground, pushing the ball to the 27-yard line after a 15-yard penalty for unnecessary roughness.

And with the ball in easy field goal range, the Chiefs got that three-pointer and won the game.

Fans were quick to take to social media to discuss the play and its aftermath, which featured CBS cameras getting many shots of the disconsolate Ossai burying his face in his helmet in grief. It was a tough lesson for Ossai, and a shame that the season came to one play, one mistake, one shove that he will forever wish he could undo.

No point talking about it anymore; what's done is done. But I was not shocked to see Cincinnati's head coach, Zac Taylor, reach into his Big Bag of Bromides and say, "We're not going to make it about one play."

Actually, you are, because if not for that one play, you might still be in the hunt for a Super Bowl win.

The sad truth is that many lives, even though they are lived over many decades, turn on one decision, one bad play, one error of omission. And the actions of just one person can affect millions of lives.

As the old anonymous proverb said it, 

 For want of a nail the shoe was lost.

For want of a shoe the horse was lost.

For want of a horse the rider was lost.

For want of a rider the battle was lost.

For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.

And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

Surely I can say, Ossai didn't mean to commit that penalty and he should not bear the blame for the entire loss. But it's worth thinking about, how one mistake can define a person in the public eye. No, it's not fair.

It's life.

Just ask Bill Buckner.