Last play of Steelers-Browns game cost Plum's Pat McAfee, his fans thousands

The last play of the Steelers-Browns game Thursday night cost Plum native Pat McAfee and his fans thousands of dollars.

In coordination with the FanDuel online sportsbook, McAfee often identifies a same-game parlay that he and his fans plan to bet on for a given football game. On Thursday, the parlay combined a bet on the Browns minus 7.5 points and bets that Cleveland’s Nick Chubb and the Steelers’ Najee Harris would score touchdowns. The bet had 8-1 odds.

In the second quarter, Harris scored on a 5-yard run. In the fourth quarter, Chubb scored from a yard out. With nine seconds left, the Browns led, 23-17.

That’s when things got weird.

Steelers quarterback Mitch Trubisky hit Diontae Johnson with a 8-yard pass at the 12-yard line as time expired. Desperately trying to travel 88 yards for a winning touchdown, the Steelers began a series of laterals. Johnson passed back to Chase Claypool, who passed back to Harris, whose attempt at a lateral hit the ground and ricocheted into the end zone.

Cleveland’s Denzel Ward recovered the ball in the end zone for a last-play touchdown that gave the Browns a 29-17 lead. The Steelers didn’t cover the 7.5-point spread and the bet was lost.

“That may be meaningful to some of you,” television play-by-play man Al Michaels said on the Amazon Prime broadcast. “And you know who I mean.”

Later, McAfee posted a picture of his ticket on his Twitter account. He had placed a $1,000 bet that would have paid $9,000.

Feeling bad for bettors, FanDuel offered a consolation prize. Customers who made the bet had their money refunded in the form of a free future wager.

“Some beats are too bad to let stand,” FanDuel COO Mike Raffensperger wrote on Twitter.