NFL bad beat(?): Jets almost pull off insane comeback to cover, only to let down bettors

Honestly, if you're complaining about not winning a bet on the New York Jets +10, please stop.

You can complain about legitimate bad beats, but not winning on a team that trailed 42-10 isn't a real gripe.

And yet ...

The Jets gave bettors some hope late in Thursday night's game against the Indianapolis Colts. They were 10-point underdogs coming in, and the wheels fell off right after quarterback Mike White left the game. The defense was putrid. A 78-yard touchdown run by Jonathan Taylor put the Colts up 42-10. Those underdog bettors never thought they'd have a sweat in the fourth quarter.

Then the Jets started moving the ball as the Colts sat back on defense. They cut the Colts' lead to 45-30. Then the Jets forced a punt. Suddenly, the back door was wide open.

Colts bettors had to be dying a little inside during that last Jets drive. There was a fourth-and-10 completion that barely made the first down. Josh Johnson kept completing passes. An interception seemed to end the drama, but the Jets kept the ball when the Colts were called for pass interference. The Jets got all the way down to the 7-yard line and had first-and-goal with a little less than a minute to go.

"This is a big possession for some," Fox color analyst Troy Aikman said in the booth, long after bettors were aware of the drama going on in an otherwise drab game.

And if you had Jets +10 and tuned in at that moment, maybe you can complain about a bad beat.

Johnson finally ran out of magic. His ball was tipped at the line and picked off by Colts linebacker Bobby Okereke. That ended it, finally. The Colts won by 15, covering the spread.

It was disappointing for Jets bettors to get that close and lose. But it wasn't a bad beat. It just felt like one.