All over the country last night, the same discussion was happening in family rooms and bars: Why weren’t the New England Patriots calling timeout as the Seattle Seahawks were draining the clock before Marshawn Lynch’s inevitable last-minute,game-winning touchdown?

Bill Belichick had two timeouts at his disposal when the Seahawks ran the ball on 1st-and-5 with 1:06 left. Lynch rumbled for four yards, giving Seattle second-and-goal from the one-yard line. This was the time that most coaches (and every armchair quarterback) would have basically conceded a Seahawks touchdown and started to call timeouts in hopes of getting the ball back with enough time to make a game-tying field goal.

What should have been. (Getty Images)

But, oddly, Belichick didn’t call timeout. He let the Seahawks run the clock all the way down to 0:26, which is when Russell Wilson threw the fateful pass to Ricardo Lockette that was picked off by Pats rookie Malcolm Butler.

Unless you have a DeLorean, flux capacitor, and a crazy, wild-eyed scientist, there’s no way to know what would have happened if Belichick had called timeout with 1:02 left on the clock. But we do know that Seattle was backed into a corner with Belichick’s game of clock chicken.

(AP)

It starts with Seattle’s lone remaining timeout. If the Seahawks had run on second down with 26 seconds left and not scored a touchdown, they would’ve had to call their final timeout to stop the clock. That almost ensures that both third and fourth down would be passes, a theoretical advantage for New England. (Or it might have had the reverse effect: With New England playing for a pass, there’s more room for Russell Wilson to run.)

But calling timeout back at 1:02 probably likely would have caused Seattle to run the ball on 2nd and 1 to either score a touchdown or flush out Belichick’s final timeout. A pass would have been almost out of the question since it would have stopped the clock with, say, 0:56 remaining and put Seattle into a third down with New England still holding two timeouts. (Although, given Bevell’s night, I suppose every play call, including a punt, was on the table.) The Patriots would have been certain to get the ball back with around 0:45, but with no timeouts.

(Getty Images)

By the Pats not calling timeout, Seattle had the opportunity to throw the ball without fear of New England regaining possession. In essence, Belichick dared the Seahawks to make the most ill-advised pass in NFL history and the Seahawks were all too happy to comply.

Brilliant.

(Getty Images)