Former Saints QB Chase Daniel reflects on heartbreaking playoff losses
Former Saints QB Chase Daniel reflects on heartbreaking playoff losses 'I've been a part of some of the worst playoff losses in NFL history'
Chase Daniel has done really well for himself, especially at the bank. He earned a whopping $43.1 million through 14 years as an NFL backup quarterback, spending time with seven different teams -- most notably the New Orleans Saints, where he spent five years of his career. Daniel won a Super Bowl ring with the Saints as a rookie in 2009 and later returned to the team in 2017. While he was inactive for many of them, he had a front-row seat to many playoff games along the way. And from where he stands, while he didn't throw many passes himself, he didn't exactly have an easy time of it in the league.
"I've been a part of some of the worst playoff losses in NFL history," Daniel wrote on social media, rattling off a series of painful exits in the postseason. He watched Marshawn Lynch run wild in the "Beast Quake" game during the 2010 playoffs with the Saints, then saw Stefon Diggs do the same in the 2017 "Minneapolis Miracle" (also called the Minnesota Miracle). And that was just with New Orleans. As a member of the Chicago Bears in 2018, Daniel saw a rare "Double Doink" field goal try bounce off of the left upright and onto the crossbar before falling to the turf, ending Chicago's season.
He's seen history made, too. Daniel was the Kansas City Chiefs' backup quarterback in a 2013 wild-card game they initially led 38-10, but lost 45-44 after Andrew Luck rallied the Indianapolis Colts with four touchdown passes and another score off of a wacky fumble recovery. Just a few years ago in the 2022 playoffs, Daniel was a member of the Los Angeles Chargers when they took a 27-0 lead and squandered it, losing 31-30 to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
That's a brutal legacy to put together. That Daniel woke up in a cold sweat at his lovely California home, got on his phone at just after 6 a.m. California time, and reflected on all those defeats in a tweet speaks volumes. Losing is never easy. Between his time with the Saints and a few other unfortunate teams, he's had to deal with more heartbreaking season-ending losses than most.
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