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Compiling the 10 Strangest Plays of 2025 NFL Season: The Weird, Wacky and Unforgettable Bloopers

The 2025 season was full of fluky plays and bloopers.
Trevor Lawrence’s touchdown run vs. the Chiefs was one of the plays of the season.
Trevor Lawrence’s touchdown run vs. the Chiefs was one of the plays of the season. | ESPN.

Each year, the NFL produces some incredible highlights.

From awe-striking throws, jaw-dropping catches to exhilarating comebacks, there are memorable plays every season—along with some comical bloopers.

As the credits roll on the 2025 campaign, it’s time to take a look back at the strangest plays of the season. Here’s hoping your team wasn’t on the wrong end of these moments.

Week 2: Kaleb Johnson’s special teams gaffe

Steelers rookie Kaleb Johnson made one of the biggest errors of the season in Week 2. When the Seahawks kicked off the football, he touched the ball before letting it bounce into the end zone. Rather than going to pick up the football, Johnson appeared to assume the play was over. The Seahawks ran to the end zone and recovered the football for an easy touchdown, helping the eventual champs secure their first win of the season.

Week 5: Titans recover fumbled interception for touchdown

It took a number of odd plays for the Titans to earn their first win of the season, but none was stranger than when Cardinals safety Dadrion Taylor-Demerson intercepted Cam Ward and fumbled the football without being contacted. The ball then bounced around before Tyler Lockett recovered it in the end zone for a touchdown that helped Tennessee pull off the improbable 22-21 comeback win.

Week 6: Trevor Lawrence’s stumble-touchdown

In a prime-time victory over the Chiefs, Trevor Lawrence perfectly encapsulated the highs and lows of his career with his game-winning touchdown run. Lawrence began the play stumbling to the ground before getting up and running into the end zone.

Lawrence described the moment best, saying he felt “sheer panic” when he initially fell to the ground.

Week 13: Younghoe Koo’s failed field goal attempt

As Younghoe Koo tried to kick a field goal that would have brought the Giants within one score of the Patriots, he made one critical mistake: He missed the football. In a perhaps unprecedented failed field goal attempt, Koo’s foot hit the turf before reaching the football and he wasn’t even able to get the kick off. Oof.

Week 14: Aaron Rodgers’s interception is overturned

There were a couple controversial calls in the Steelers’ first win over the Ravens, including a fortunate break for Aaron Rodgers on an interception.

Rodgers’s attempted pass was deflected back to him, and he fought with Ravens’ Teddye Buchanan for control of the football. Buchanan initially had the interception, but the call was overturned and ruled that Rodgers had control of the football.

Week 14: Jalen Hurts turns the ball over twice in one play

Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts did a good job of avoiding turnovers until the team’s Week 14 game against the Chargers, when the dam broke. Hurts threw a pick to Chargers defensive tackle Da’Shawn Hand, who then fumbled the football. Hurts picked up the ball, but fumbled and the Chargers recovered. He committed a total of five turnovers on the night as Los Angeles won 22-19 in overtime.

Week 16: Zach Charbonnet’s bizarre two-point conversion

What appeared to be a standard deflected pass turned into a successful two-point conversion when it was ruled that Sam Darnold threw a backwards pass and running back Zach Charbonnet happened to pick up the football in the end zone. In a pivotal Week 16 divisional matchup between the Seahawks and Rams, Seattle had luck on its side, securing the two points needed to tie the game and force overtime.

Wild-card round: Packers OL fumble

It’s always fun when the big guys get the ball in their hands ... until they jeopardize the future of all big-man trick plays.

In the Packers’ wild-card loss to the Bears, Jordan Love threw to tackle Darian Kinnard, who pushed past a couple tacklers before losing the football. His foot accidentally kicked the ball forward and multiple players attempted to scrounge up the football before it fortunately landed out of bounds for Green Bay.

Divisional round: Josh Allen’s fumble before the half

With just 16 seconds remaining in the first half, the Bills decided to try and add a field goal over kneeling to end the half. The results proved disastrous. Quarterback Josh Allen ran for a first down, but was bizarrely careless with the football and lost control of the ball in his own territory. The Broncos pounced on the football and added a field goal to their lead going into the half—three points that would come back to haunt the Bills later in the game.

AFC championship game: Patriots recover Jarrett Stidham’s backwards pass

After leading the Broncos to a solid start while replacing an injured Bo Nix, Jarrett Stidham made an error that likely cost Denver a trip to the Super Bowl. Leading 7-0 and under pressure, Stidham kept backpedaling before finally attempting to throw the football away. The Patriots picked up the football and ran it into the end zone, but the play was initially called an incomplete pass. Upon further review, the call was overturned and ruled a backwards pass, but the touchdown didn’t count because the whistle had already blown the play dead.


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Eva Geitheim
EVA GEITHEIM

Eva Geitheim is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Prior to joining SI in December 2024, she wrote for Newsweek, Gymnastics Now and Dodgers Nation. A Bay Area native, she has a bachelor's in communications from UCLA. When not writing, she can be found baking or re-watching Gilmore Girls.