"The Big Game" is the ninth episode of the fifth season of the American sitcom Modern Family, and the series' 105th overall.
Just before the game starts, Cam and his players learn that the coach of the opponent's team has died and they are going to play in his memory.
Phil (Ty Burrell) notices his children suffer from lack of optimism and decides to teach them a lesson of how being optimistic leads things to a positive direction.
Jay (Ed O'Neill) drives Claire (Julie Bowen) to work but her strange behavior makes him curious.
Meanwhile, Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) has recently received a better professional offer and decided to accept it which means that he has to quit his current job.
He gets to his office but the moment he leaves the letter, Charlie arrives and starts telling Mitch that his girlfriend dumped him and he has no place to stay.
In the meantime, since Mitch and Cam are busy during the day, Gloria (Sofía Vergara) is responsible to take Lily (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons) to school and also pick her up later.
Manny though is not as excited as the others are, since he wanted to miss the kick and let the other team win because they were playing for their coach's memory.
He made an ordinary locked out of the house situation into a complete act between playing the recorder to the snake and the accidental faux coke mustache.
Club gave a C+ rate to the episode stating: "Modern Family can do fizzy concoctions of intricate, intersecting plotlines that coalesce into a touching finale really well.