Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll may never live it down.
It may have been the worst play call in Super Bowl history.
Carroll's baffling decision to forsake star running back Marshawn Lynch and have quarterback Russell Wilson throw the football at the goal line as the clock wound down in Super Bowl 49 left fans and NFL veterans alike stunned.
As soon as unheralded New England Patriots rookie cornerback Malcolm Butler intercepted Wilson's pass on Sunday night - killing the Seahawks' bid for a stunning comeback triumph - social media exploded.
"CAN NOT BELIEVE THAT PLAY CALL #SPEECHLESS," tweeted Terrell Owens, a former wide receiver who was a six-time Pro Bowl selection in a 15-year National Football League career.
"That play call will haunt Pete for the rest of his career!!"
Owens - like most who saw the game - could not understand why Carroll didn't give the ball to Lynch and watch him spring into full "Beast Mode" with the kind of rugged run for the end zone that has made him the league's leader in rushing touchdowns the past two years.
"That was the worst play call I've seen in the history of football," former Dallas Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith tweeted.
The Seahawks themselves just seemed confused.
"I don't know. We've got Marshawn Lynch, one of the best running backs in the league," said Seattle linebacker Bobby Wagner.
"Unfortunately, we didn't give him the ball."
Carroll fell on his sword after the Seahawks limped away from the 28-24 defeat, but his laborious explanations only raised more questions.
"We're going to leave them no time and we had our plays to do it," Carroll said.
"We sent in our personnel, they sent in goal-line (defensive lineup). It's not the right matchup for us to run the football, so on second down we throw the ball really to kind of waste a play."
It was wasted, all right - leaving Carroll to absorb the contempt of a nation just two weeks after he was hailed for masterminding his team's gutsy comeback win over the Green Bay Packers in the NFC championship game.
"In retrospect, we could have easily run it, and we wouldn't be talking about this," Carroll finally acknowledged as the weight of the defeat sank in.
"We might have got stuffed on third and fourth down. I don't know. This is what happened."
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