Was your bad beat as bad as these 5?

In a turbulent year, sports bettors still have something they can rely on: The Detroit Lions will find a way to not get the job done.

Here are the worst sports betting bad beats from the past week:

5. Djokovic -125 to win U.S. Open

With Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal out of the field, how could Novak Djokovic lose at the U.S. Open?

Simple: Have him get frustrated, slap a ball into a line judge’s throat and get disqualified. That’s what happened in the 17-time major winner’s fourth-round match against Pablo Carreno Busta in New York.

We can’t know for certain that Djokovic would have rolled to the title, though he would have been heavily favored in every match, but it was an abrupt way for futures bettors to see their tickets become worthless.

4. Titans -3

Stephen Gostkowski has had five full seasons in which he missed three or fewer field goals.

Unfortunately for Tennessee backers, he missed three in his first game with the Titans on Monday. He also threw in a missed extra point, so when he finally hit a 25-yarder to win the game with 17 seconds left, the Titans won by two at 16-14 instead of pulling out a push at 17-14.

To top it all off, Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill barely overthrew A.J. Brown on what would have been a game-winning touchdown (and cover) on the previous play.

3. Under 53½ Texans-Chiefs

The Houston Texans came alive in garbage time in Thursday’s NFL opener, cutting the Kansas City Chiefs’ lead from 31-7 to 31-20 with 2:38 to go.

Under backers were in great shape. As long as the Texans didn’t recover the onside kick, the Chiefs would run out the clock.

It turns out there was a third option. Chiefs defensive back Armani Watts grabbed the onside kick and returned it 28 yards to the Texans 20. Houston still had two timeouts and the two-minute warning, so even though the Chiefs picked up a first down, they couldn’t kneel out the clock.

That left no choice but for Harrison Butker to kick a 19-yard field goal with 30 seconds left, giving the Chiefs a 34-20 victory and pushing the total over 53½.

2. Pittsburgh -30½

Wait, the Panthers beat Austin Peay 55-0. How is that a bad beat? Because sportsbook rules say so.

Pitt was up 42-0 at halftime on the Governors, so the teams agreed to play 10-minute quarters in the second half instead of 15. Sportsbook rules require football games to go 55 minutes for action to stand, so bets on the game were refunded.

A nice break for Austin Peay backers — if they didn’t throw their tickets in the trash.

1. Lions -2½

NFL lines are notoriously tight, but it appeared Detroit bettors had found an easy winner Sunday, as the Lions led the Chicago Bears 23-6 entering the fourth quarter.

But it’s almost never that easy. Much-maligned Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky threw a TD pass to Jimmy Graham early in the quarter, then hit Javon Wims for a 1-yard score with 2:58 remaining to cut the lead to 23-20.

The Lions could salt the game away with a couple of first downs, but that’s no fun. Matthew Stafford’s third-down pass was deflected and intercepted by Kyle Fuller at the Lions 37, and Trubisky promptly hit Anthony Miller for a 27-yard go-ahead TD with 1:54 left.

The torture wasn’t over for Lions backers. Stafford moved Detroit 59 yards in eight plays, spiking the ball to stop the clock with 11 seconds left at the Bears 16. He then found rookie running back D’Andre Swift all alone at the goal line, but the ball bounced off his hands as he tried to turn upfield, even though he didn’t need to.

One final incompletion later, and Bears backers headed to the window with a 27-23 victory.

Contact Jim Barnes at jbarnes@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0277. Follow @JimBarnesLV on Twitter.