There won’t be a weirder game on Sunday night this NFL season. There won’t be a weirder one on Thursday night, Monday night, Sunday afternoon or any other time the NFL wants to play, either.

The Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals played to a 6-6 tie on Sunday night. That odd score – it’s the NFL’s first 6-6 tie since 1972, before the NFL played overtime in the regular season, and only the third 6-6 tie since 1938 – tells only half the story.

Each team missed a chip shot field goal in the final minutes of overtime when the game seemed to be over. First, Chandler Catanzaro had a 24-yard attempt to win for the Cardinals late in overtime. He somehow bounced it off the left upright. You might see a miss in a situation like that once every few seasons. Or so we thought.

After Catanzaro’s miss the Seahawks finally hit a big play, their first big play on a terrible offensive night for them. On third down just inside of the two-minute warning, Russell Wilson hit Jermaine Kearse for 31 yards. Then Doug Baldwin broke loose for another nice gain. Steven Hauschka came on for a 28-yard field goal to win it.

It’s really rare to see NFL kickers miss field goals of less than 30 yards. But Hauschka, unbelievably, missed too. He simply hooked it wide left. You won’t see many kickers miss a short kick worse than Hauschka did.

The Cardinals had a few seconds to try to win themselves, but a Hail Mary at the end was knocked down. It was the NFL’s first tie in more than two years. The last tie came when the Cincinnati Bengals and Carolina Panthers played to a 37-37 stalemate on Oct. 12, 2014.

Before the overtime kicking ridiculousness it was a defensive battle, to say the least. The Seahawks had five first downs in regulation – yes, just five. The Cardinals had issues in the kicking game all night. They had a field goal blocked in regulation. They also saw time run out in the second quarter when they were in field goal range, when Carson Palmer got sacked. In the third quarter the Cardinals passed up a field-goal attempt on fourth-and-1 at the Seahawks’ 19-yard line. They didn’t convert that fourth down.

The Seahawks looked like they were finished late in regulation, but a blocked punt by rookie Tanner McEvoy in the fourth quarter set up a tying field goal. The Cardinals scored first in overtime, then the Seahawks matched that. The Cardinals set up Catanzaro’s short field goal and watched him miss. Then Hauschka missed his gimme.

Neither team could feel too good about walking away with a tie. Anyone who watched for more than three-and-a-half hours without seeing a touchdown or either team win didn’t feel great about it either.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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