The 76ers’ remarkable comeback against the Cavs from 29 points down in their 2026 home opener was only the latest remarkable comeback against all odds over the years by a Philadelphia sports team.
We’ve seen the Eagles score 28 points in 7 ½ minutes to beat the Giants in 2010, the Phillies down to their last strike three times to beat the Cards this summer, the Flyers down 3-0 in a series and 3-0 in an elimination game and come back to win both.
But what are the 10 greatest comebacks in Philly sports history? We put together a list of 10 amazing ones, listed here chronologically because it’s impossible to rank any of them above the others.
The list includes games from the 1950s through this past summer. What comebacks are missing?
Eagles were down 24-0
Metropolitan Stadium, Oct. 25, 1959
When Hall of Famer Dick “Night Train” Lane scored on a pick-6 off Norm Van Brocklin in the 3rd quarter, the Cards led the Eagles 24-0 in a game played at neutral site Metropolitan Stadium in Minneapolis. But the Eagles scored the final 28 points of the game on two touchdown runs by Billy Ray Barnes, Van Brocklin’s 29-yard TD pass to Tommy McDonald and the game-winner, a 22-yard TD pass from Van Brocklin to McDonald. It was the first NFL game ever played at Metropolitan Stadium, which later became the first home of the Vikings. The game was played in Minneapolis as the city tried to raise interest in attracting an NFL stadium. The 24-point comeback remains tied for the biggest in Eagles history and is tied for 8th-largest in NFL history and 3rd-largest ever on the road.
QUOTE: “The Eagles gave 20,112 in this big-league hungering town a glimpse of what they are missing Sunday. The Birds rallied from a 24-0 3rd-quarter deficit to out-hustle the St. Louis Cardinals, 28-24. Tommy McDonald lunged in the fashion of a flying tackler to snare Norm Van Brocklin’s 22-yard pass in the right corner of the end zone to decide things” — Story by John Dell in the Oct. 26, 1959, Philadelphia Inquirer.
Down 30 in Boston, where they had lost 15 straight
March 25, 1988, Boston Garden
The 76ers had lost 15 straight road games against the Celtics and were 7-29 on the road in 1987-88 when they faced Larry Byrd, Kevin McHale, Robert Parrish and Company in Boston late in the season. When the Celtics went up 75-45 with 7:31 left in the third quarter, it looked like more of the same. But the 76ers suddenly got hot, the Celtics got cold, and the 76ers improbably outscored Boston 52-18 the rest of the way to win 97-93, with Mo Cheeks hitting the go-ahead basket with nine seconds left and Gerald Henderson clinching it with two foul shots after Byrd missed a 3-pointer. The 30-point comeback remains the largest in 76ers history and is tied for 8th-largest in NBA history and 5th-largest on the road.
QUOTE — “At the half, I was really embarrassed. I didn’t expect to win, I just wanted to get some pride back,” Charles Barkley
Eagles trailed 27-7 in Washington
Sept. 17, 1989, RFK Stadium
Mark Rypien, a future Eagle, threw three quick touchdown passes – two to Gary Clark, one to Earnest Byner – and Washington raced out to a 27-7 lead early in the second quarter at RFK Stadium. But Randall Cunningham heated up and the Eagles got back in the game on a touchdown run by Anthony Toney and Cunningham TD passes to Keith Jackson, Cris Carter and Mike Quick. Despite all of it, Washington still led 37-35 in the finals and seemed to put the game away when Gerald Riggs spun off a 58-yard run down to the Eagles’ 22-yard-line after the two-minute warning. But two plays later, Riggs got the ball again and Seth Joyner crushed him, forcing a fumble. Eagles defensive end Al Harris from Mount Holly recovered and handed the ball off to Wes Hopkins, who raced all the way down to the Washington 4-yard-line, where the Eagles had a 1st-and-goal with 57 seconds left. That’s when Randall threw his fifth touchdown pass of the game and second to Jackson. Jerome Brown forced a Rypien fumble on Washington’s first snap of their next possession and the Eagles had blown a 20-point lead for the first time since 1946.
QUOTE — “We had a lot of confidence. Even though we were down by a whole bunch of points we’re still in the game. If we keep scoring, we’ll keep winning. And in the last minute of the game, when the Redskins were driving, Randall said, ‘If we get the ball back with a minute on the clock, we’re going to score,” Keith Jackson.
The Phillies trailed the Dodgers 11-3 in the 9th inning
Aug. 21, 1990, Dodger Stadium
The Phillies trailed 11-3 going into the top of the 9th at Dodger Stadium before rallying for nine runs off Dave Walsh, Tim Crews and Jay Howell and winning 12-11. Big hits in the inning were a three-run homer by John Kruk, a two-run double by Dale Murphy and an RBI double by Carmelo Martinez to tie the game at 11, with Dickie Thon hitting a sacrifice fly to score Rod Booker with the go-ahead run. Don Carman pitched the 9th to earn the save.
QUOTE — “Let’s be honest, at that point, the only thing I’m thinking about is getting back to the hotel by midnight, because that’s when room service closes. Then we start getting hit, hit, hit, and I’m thinking, ‘Uh-oh, I’m not going to make it.’ But if you’re not going to make room service, you might as well win. That’s the way I look at it,” John Kruk.
The Padres were up 5-0 in the middle of the night
July 2-3, 1993, Veterans Stadium
In Game 1 of a double-header at the Vet began 5 hours, 54 minutes late because of multiple rain delays, and the game finally ended at 1:03 a.m., with the Padres on top 5-2. There was still a Game 2 to play, and it began at 1:28 a.m. The Padres led 5-0 in the 4th and the Phillies clawed back to tie it on an RBI single by Darren Daulton in the bottom of the 8th. The game went into extra innings tied at 5-all Phillies. Mitch Williams pitched a 1-2-3 top of the 10th and after the Phillies opened the bottom of the 10th with Pete Incaviglia walking and Jim Eisenreich moving him to 2nd with a single to right, Daulton struck out, leaving them with the winning run on 2nd but nobody left to hit for Williams, who was 2-for-15 at the plate in his career. So Williams came up against future Hall of Famer Trevor Hoffman and on a 0-1 pitch singled to left center, scoring Incaviglia with the winning run at 4:40 a.m.
QUOTE — “See ya today,” Mickey Morandini to his teammates as he left the clubhouse.
The Phillies trailed the Expos 8-3 in the 9th inning
July 15, 2002, Olympic Stadium
The Expos led 8-3 going into the 9th at Olympic Stadium after shelling Phillies starter Terry Adams for five runs in 2 1/3 innings. The Phillies rallied in the 9thon a three-run homers by Ricky Ledée off Jim Brower and Pat Burrell off Matt Herges and took the lead on a two-run dinger by Scott Rolen off Herges. Jose Mesa worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the 9th for the save. The Phillies felt the Expos broke baseball etiquette by trying a double steal up five runs in the 8th.
QUOTE — “We had some guys fired up. Trying to steal when you’re up more than a grand slam in the 8th?” Larry Bowa.
The Flyers were down 3-0 and 3-0
May 14, 2010, T.D. Garden
The Flyers didn’t only trail the Bruins 3-0 at TD Garden in Game 4 of their 2010 Eastern Conference Semifinal series, they trailed 3-0 after Michael Ryder scored just 5 ½ minutes into the first period and Milan Lucic scored twice before the first intermission. Only two NHL teams had ever come back from 3-0 down in a best-of-7 series – the 1946 Maple Leafs in the finals vs. the Red Wings and the Islanders in the quarterfinals against the Penguins in 1975. But the Flyers rallied with a goal by James van Riemsdyk late in the first period and 2nd-period goals by Scott Hartnell and Daniel Briere to tie the game. While Michael Leighton was blanking the Bruins over the final 45 minutes, Simon Gagné scored the game-winner in the 3rd period on the power play assisted by Mike Richards and Ville Leino and the Flyers won the game and then swept the next three games, 4-0 in Boston, 2-1 at what was then the Wachovia Center and 4-3 back in Boston to win the series. They remain one of only five teams in professional sports to come back from three games down in a best-of-seven series. Along with the 1946 Maple Leafs and 1975 Islanders, it’s been achieved by the 2014 L.A. Kings over the San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference 1st round the 2004 Red Sox in the A.L. Championship Series over the Yankees. No NBA team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit.
QUOTE — “some point I just started thinking it was meant to be. I don’t know. I can’t explain it. I have been down 3-0 in a series before but I have never had this feeling before,” Danny Briere.
The Eagles trailed by 21 points with 7 ½ minutes left
Dec. 19, 2010, Giants Stadium
The Giants built a 31-10 lead on Eli Manning’s fourth touchdown pass of the game 6 ½ minutes into the fourth quarter. The Eagles then proceeded to score 28 points in just under 7 ½ minutes on a Michael Vick 65-yard touchdown pass to Brent Celek, a four-yard Vick rushing touchdown, a 13-yard Vick TD pass to Jeremy Maclin to tie the game at 31-all with 76 seconds left and then DeSean Jackson’s iconic 65-yard TD return of a Matt Dodge punt that he initially muffed as time expired. That remains the only walk-off punt return in NFL history. The comeback was the Eagles’ first from a 21-point deficit since 1946. In the final 7 ½ minutes of the game, Vick threw for 111 yards and ran for 92 more.
QUOTE — “We were getting our ass kicked. We were losing 24-3. It wasn’t going right. Everybody was on vacation. Somebody had to do something to get everybody fired up,” Asante Samuel on his fiery halftime speech.
Down 4-0, down to their last strike three times
Aug. 23, 2026, Citizens Bank Park
The Cards took a 4-0 lead over the Phillies on a summer Sunday afternoon on single runs in the 1st, 4th, 5th and 7th, and after Bryce Harper led off the 9thwith a double off Riley O’Brien, Luis Arraez and Brandon Marsh flied out to left, leaving the Phillies trailing by four and down to their final out. Looked like their eight-game winning streak was coming to an end, and when O’Brien worked a 2-2 count on J.T. Realmuto, they were down to their final strike. But Realmuto singled to center, Harper moving to 3rd. Justin Crawford then walked to load the bases and Edmundo Sosa rammed a double to left, scoring Harper, Realmuto and Crawford. The Phillies still trailed 4-3 and were again down to their last strike when O’Brien had a 2-2 count on Bryan De La Cruz, but De La Cruz singled to left, scoring Sosa with the tying run. Kyle Schwarber then delivered a two-run homer over the center field fence and the Phillies won 6-4 after being down to their last strike three times.
QUOTE — “That’s why you love baseball. Hopefully there were a lot of kids and families here today and they can talk about it for a long time, how the Phillies were down to their final out then put up six runs and everybody goes home happy,” Kyle Schwarber.
76ers trailed by 29 late in the 2nd quarter
Oct. 22, 2026, Xfinity Mobile Arena
Coming off an opening-day win over the Knicks, the 76ers were fired up for their home opener Thursday against the Cavs. But the 76ers found themselves down 17 points at the end of the first quarter and as much as 29 late in the second quarter, when a Donovan Mitchell fadeaway gave the Cavs a 69-40 lead, which the Sixers cut to 24 at 69-45 at halftime. The 76ers had lost 46 consecutive games when trailing by at least 24 points at halftime, but they outscored the Cavs 74-37 over the final 25:12 to win 114-106 in the 2nd-biggest comeback in franchise history and biggest in 38 years. In his first home game as a Sixer, LeBron James had 17 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. It was the biggest comeback of his 24-year career encompassing 1,926 games.
QUOTE — “Shout out to (the fans) for not leaving after halftime when you’re down 25 points. That’s big time. I love how the fans supported us tonight. They helped us win that game,” V.J. Edgecombe.