Doug O'Neal wrote:
"In football, I once saw a team up by one with not much time left and
no timeouts let the other team score a touchdown, so they'd be down
by 8 and have a chance to tie with their own touchdown + 2-point
conversion. As I recall, it worked."
The Green Bay Packers used this sort of strategy in Super Bowl
XXXII. The game was tied 24-24 late in the game, and the Denver
Broncos had the ball deep in Green Bay territory. With 1:45 left,
Green Bay decided to let Denver score a touchdown so that the Packers
could get the ball back with time on the clock and tie the game,
sending it into overtime. In this instance, the strategy did not
work; Denver's defense stopped the Brett Favre-led Packers and John
Elway won his first Super Bowl, 31-24.
Just proof that this strategy has been employed, indeed on the
biggest stage in football. In the quiz bowl case study, I have no
beef with a team negging on purpose to end the game; the rules of
that tournament (neg kills the question, but still have bonuses) were
indeed ludicrous. Like Panasonic, only worse, since there are also
bonuses. (In Panasonic, there would be no need to do this, since
incorrect is same value as correct and there are no bonuses.)
--Josh, P. t. altaica