The 91-93 losses were balloon-busting.
Houston led most of the game against Denver and had the Broncos pinned to their 2-yd-line with 5 minutes to go, leading by two. Elway converted two 4th-and-longs, including the back-breaking scramble where Al Smith was forced to choose between coming up to stop Elway or staying in coverage against Vance Johnson. Smith chose wrong and Johnson was able to catch Elway's lob and dash into field goal range.
In retrospect, this could have been predicted.
The 92 game was the 35-3 collapse against Buffalo. That loss hurt beyond belief. They didn't even lose to Jim Kelly but to Frank Reich. They didn't lose to Thurman Thomas but Kenneth Davis. The Bills had halfway raised the white flag only to watch Reich and Andre Reed shred our secondary like they were a Division III team.
The 93 game was coming off a long winning streak and was at home. KC wasn't that great and was really the last hurrah for a past-their-prime Joe Montana and Marcus Allen. Another second-half collapse.
For all the accomplishments and respect compiled by Warren Moon, he had a nasty habit of crumbling in the playoffs with fumbles and interceptions. The losses were not all his fault but he doesn't escape blame in any of those games.
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