Titans quarterback Steve McNair, left, walks off the field with kicker Craig Hentrich. Tennessee lost Saturday's AFC Divisional Playoffs to the New England Patriots, 17-14, in Foxboro, Mass. Charles Krupa / APSteve McNair's morphine shots had probably worn off.
He had to grit the pain of a strained calf on his right leg, and a sprained left ankle in the 2004 AFC Divisional Playoff game against the New England Patriots.
Oh, and it was two degrees out with a wind chill of -14. It was one of the coldest playoff games of all-time.
But there was Steve, gimping through the pain, barely able to walk under center or position himself in the shotgun and doing what he did best — lead the Tennessee Titans for a chance at a comeback.
I'll never forget that drive. Not the stats. But circumstances that McNair showed the heart of a champion, despite never having the rings to ever show for it.
It affirmed why I was a McNair fan since the Music City Miracle. The comebacks.
Now, I'm just wishing Steve would come back. ...
As always, circumstances ended McNair's dream
Down 17-14 after Adam Vinatieri kicked a 46-yard field goal that just barely went over crossbar,
McNair had 4:11 left to put the Titans in position. McNair delivered two strikes to NIU alum Justin McCareins and Drew Bennett and rushed for 12 more yards.
Two penalties hurt the Titans and eventually forced a 4th-and-12 heave that was incomplete because of a drop by Bennett.
Every year, it seemed there was some reason why the Titans couldn't move forward and win it all. I tried to blame McNair, but oft-times I found it hard to.
2000 - Eddie George can't hold on to the ball rushing or receiving and Al Del Greco misses three damn field goals in a loss to the hated Baltimore Ravens. McNair didn't blaze the stat sheet up, but, who could against that defense? Wasted back-to-back 13-3 season.
2001 - George has turf toe and Titans are just bad. You could blame everyone for that season.
2002 - Titans comeback from a 1-4 start to finish 11-5, thanks mostly to McNair (remember that comeback win against the Giants?). They lose to the Raiders because the defense has no answers to Rich Gannon.
2003 - Look above to start of blog. During the off-season, Titans lose Jevon Kearse, Robarie Smith McCareins to free agency. McNair's favorite target, Frank Wycheck, retires. A rundown Eddie George is cut and signed by Dallas.
Salary cap capped all hope of Tennessee making another run with Steve on the squad.
2004 - Tyrone Calico tears ACL (thanks, horse-collar Roy Williams) during the preseason. The last vertical deep threat on roster is gone, Chris Brown (not the singer) is Titans' only hope with McNair battles a bruised sternum and misses eight games.
2005 - Goodbye Samari Rolle and Derrick Mason. McNair's the oldest guy on the team next to Brad Hopkins. 4-12 record to show for it. The following season, McNair is unceremoniously traded to the hated Baltimore Ravens after being locked out of Titans facilities.
Born on Valentine's Day, dead on the Fourth of July.
I thought that moment was painful, but that was nothing compared to how I felt when I got a text from a friend last Saturday.
My heart sank when I read "McNair shot and killed" on my cell phone. Over the years, aside from Walter Payton, McNair became my favorite player in the NFL. I stood up for him during his failures like Titans coach — and former Chicago Bears return specialist — Jeff Fisher did so many times before.
I also bragged, unlike McNair ever did throughout his career, when he won the MVP.
But I didn't know how to digest that my favorite player since Payton was dead and gone. Born on a day of love — Valentine's Day — dead on the 4th of July in gunfire.
Very unsettling.
Bothered by a few things
I'm more unsettled by a few things regarding McNair's untimely death.
First. The response. Not by NFL fans or reporters questioning his hall-of-fame status. That was bound to come up.
But the females that continue to judge McNair for dating a woman while married to someone else.
Look, he was wrong for committing adultery, but did he deserve death? Talk to enough women, or follow enough of them on Twitter, and you'd honestly have to start to wonder.
Just ask Holly Robinson Peete, who disrespectfully said that she and her kids wouldn't go to her husband's funeral if he was having an affair with a 20-year-old.
It's a shame, really. Not all women think like this, but some of the scorned out there would actually justify murder for infidelity.
Second is anyone anti-gun that want to go on a crusade after this death. I'm no fan of guns, but people are responsible for the death of McNair and Sahel Kazemi not guns.
If it was a murder-suicide, would we feel different if Kazemi stabbed McNair to death? Would we be anti-knife?
I don't like how people use death as a chance to push some kind of agenda or cause.
Something doesn't add up
I'm far from a detective, so I won't act as though the Nashville detectives aren't doing their jobs.
But things don't add up. A 20-year-old woman is able to shoot McNair four times, twice in the body and twice in the head with no misses?
Understandably, the final shot was point-blank range, but three shots were at a distance, according to reports. If this was the first time she's ever shot a gun, you'd think she'd miss at least once, right?
And just how do you explain the guy being underneath her? Maybe I'm missing something (which is why I'm not a detective), but how do you shoot yourself in the head and end up with the burner underneath your body, as opposed to being on the side of you or in your hand still?
And there doesn't seem to be much of a motive. Did McNair tell her she's not the one that day? If so, then why did she already purchase a gun when Kazemi already said 'Steve has lots of guns'?
And the jealous boyfriend is appearing more and more suspicious to me.
Legacy overshadowed
The saddest aspect of McNair's murder is that his legacy as a quarterback will be lost to a tabloid-death, filled with plots of a mystery long triangle (or rectangle) who-done-it.
Nevermind his community service and player-mentor relationships with players like Vince Young and Troy Smith. Nevermind his play on the field that turned a relocated and renamed franchise from relative NFL nobodies to one of the winningest teams in the league in a five-year span (1999-2004).
Nevermind his family, including his wife and children (who he probably loved through his final days) and the fans who loved who he was on Sundays and Mondays.
For now, McNair's life has been reduced to a love-scandal gone dreadfully wrong.
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