The film opens with Shane Falco, a former star quarterback at The Ohio State University who choked in his final college game at the 1996 Sugar Bowl and failed to succeed in the pros, doing his job cleaning the bottoms of peoples' boats. While underwater, he finds a metal trophy football labeled "Shane Falco: All American" and pretends he is playing football again.
Meanwhile, the fictional Washington Sentinels are shown playing a game in which commentators John Madden and Pat Summerall mention a players' strike taking place over salary disputes. As the game winds down, Sentinels quarterback Eddie Martel chooses to slide to the ground instead of scoring the game winning touchdown to avoid getting injured.
Later that day, Sentinels owner Edward O'Neil decides to hire Jimmy McGinty, the Sentinels' former coach who was fired after getting into a fight with the team's star quarterback, to recruit replacement players during the strike and coach the team for the remainder of the season. He tells McGinty that all they need is three wins out of their final four games to advance to the playoffs. McGinty tells O'Neil he will only do it if he promises not to interfere with his coaching style. McGinty recruits many different ragtag players, and eventually convinces Falco to come off his boat and play quarterback again. Falco soon becomes attracted to the team's head cheerleader, Annabelle Farrell, who likes him as well, but doesn't want to date him because of her stereotype that all pro athletes are prima donnas.
In the Sentinels' first game using replacement players, they trail by four with only a few seconds left to play. McGinty calls a passing play, but Falco gets scared and changes the call to a running play. Cochran, the team's running back, gets tackled just before he reaches the end zone and the Sentinels lose. That night, the actual Sentinels players taunt the replacement players at a bar, leading to a fight between the two teams. The replacement players get arrested, but are beginning to build team chemistry, which is something they lacked in the first game. The newfound team chemistry leads to a last second field goal victory in the next game, and then another last second victory the next week, leaving the team needing only one more victory to make the playoffs.
O'Neil tells McGinty that Eddie Martel has crossed the picket line and will be re-activated by the Sentinels for the final game of the season. McGinty protests at first, saying that he will use Falco as his quarterback, but the owner convinces him that the team cannot afford to have Falco choke with the game on the line, especially since they are playing the best team in the league who has had their entire team cross. A heartbroken McGinty tells Falco that he has been cut in favor of Martel, but Falco accepts the news, saying that it's best for the team since Martel is a better player than he is, to which McGinty says that Falco has heart and Martel does not. Falco stands Annabelle up on a date because of his depression.
In the final game of the season, Martel has trouble connecting with the team due to his prima-donna attitude, and scolds them whenever he makes a mistake. At halftime, the Sentinels trail 17 0, and a reporter asks McGinty what they will need to win the game, to which he replies "miles and miles of heart" meant as a message to Falco. Falco hears him say this and comes to the game during halftime, and the rest of the team kicks Martel out of the locker room. Falco runs onto the field at the start of the half and draws loud and thunderous applause from the fans. He apologizes to Annabelle and kisses her on national TV. Cochran is able to run for a touchdown at the beginning of the half before injuring his leg. The Sentinels then score again to cut the lead to 17 14. With only a few seconds left in the game, McGinty calls for a field goal to tie the score and then go into overtime. But when Nigel 'The Leg' Gruff, the kicker, gets set, he tells Falco that he cannot kick the field goal, because several men in the audience will "take his pub". Falco then takes the snap and runs it all the way for a touchdown, only to have it brought back for a holding call. Falco then goes to the sidelines and tells McGinty that he wants the ball, implying that he has gotten over his fear of choking with the game on the line. Falco throws a pass to tight end Brian Murphy for a touchdown, and the Sentinels win 20 17, advancing to the playoffs, and the Sentinels begin dancing in synchronized formation.
The film ends with a voiceover from McGinty saying that when Falco and the rest of the players left the game that night, there were no endorsement deals or victory parades waiting for them, just a locker waiting to be cleaned out. Falco and all of the replacement players then returned to their regular jobs, but it didn't matter, because they each got a second chance at glory, which lasts forever.
Output: Why does O'Neil want Martel instead of Falco for the big game?