# Football Play Off Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 12, 2003, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-play-off-question/148061 "2003-01-12T01:58:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-play-off-question/148061/1 "2003-01-12T01:58:05Z")
If one of the teams in the play-offs were to be killed in a plane crash, how would the rest of the play-offs be handled? I realize that there’d be some kind of delay to allowing for mourning, but after that what would they do? Or is this one of those things they’ll figure out if it ever happens? ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-play-off-question/148061/2 "2003-01-12T02:08:10Z")
I imagine whoever they were to play next would just get a ‘bye’. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-play-off-question/148061/3 "2003-01-12T02:19:09Z")
The NFL, as do all the pro leagues, have contingency plans for situations like this, but they don’t make them public. In my opinion, if one of the teams in the playoffs was killed in a plane crash, the NFL would just call off the playoffs for that year or turn the Super Bowl into some sort of charity fundraiser. ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-play-off-question/148061/4 "2003-01-12T05:33:02Z")
Weird. I just had this same random thought about 5 minutes ago ( **before** opening this thread). Although I was thinking it more in terms of Superbowl – i.e. what if it happened to one of the teams en route to San Diego this year. Spoooooooooky… ---
**Author:** ![audit1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@audit1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audit1)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-play-off-question/148061/5 "2003-01-12T08:45:24Z")
The only thing I could find online is if someone pulls a team off the field other than a game official. (for example Coach X does not like a call and sends the team to the locker room.) it is a forfeit and the final result is a 2-0 victory for the other team regardless of the score at the time. Do not pull your team off the field if you are ahead. So if the entire New York Jets team came down with food poisining and was too sick to play. ( A less drastic measure than a plane crash to specutate on.) Oakland wins 2-0 and goes on to the next round. The commioners office could waive this and reschedule the game if it looked like the Jets would recover. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-play-off-question/148061/6 "2003-01-12T14:13:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Monstre \* > \*\*Weird. I just had this same random thought about 5 minutes ago ( **before** opening this thread). Although I was thinking it more in terms of Superbowl – i.e. what if it happened to one of the teams en route to San Diego this year. > > Spoooooooooky… \*\* Well, what inspired this thread was that I figured that it’s the only hope the Titans have against the Jets this year…