Why would single cylinder misfire stall the engine ?

[Explorer_PL]

The truck is 06 EB, v8 with 196k miles.
Yesterday, on my way to work, it started acting up, jerking and bucking a little.
On my way home it got really bad, and I could not accelerate sometimes like it was starving for fuel, or tranny was going bad. Then I thought one of my calipers seized and is holding my wheel since it would hesitate and then launched forward. Made most of my 35 miles home and finally the light came on. Pulled over and took my code reader and got 304, so I am thinking that is a great news. Kept driving and 50 feet from my home it just died. It would not restart right away, but after 30 seconds it fired up again and made it to my driveway. I swapped the #4 sparkplug and coil (had some spares in my garage), and now it runs again like new.
Question: I have had misfires many times before and it would be jumping and jerking, but never stalled completely. Does anybody know if there is some "safe mode" that got kicked off and that's why it shut down ?
How could just 1 cylinder misfire stall the whole motor ?

 

[boominXplorer]

The back 2 cylinders on either side have an issue with water getting in the plug holes. You could have gotten water on both sides and only threw the 1 code. Its a very common issue with the v8 trucks as water drips off the cowl in a very inconvenient spot.

 

[Flag Gibby]

Yes, there is a "limp mode" and it is possible that the misfire was bad enough that the PCM went into it and if the cylinder started not firing at all it could have completely stalled the engine.

 

[Explorer_PL]

OK Gibby -

Thanks

that's the answer I was looking for.

Boomin -

thanks, I know about the water issue. Few years ago I installed an aluminum tray under the windshield so I did not have any water there. Also, it was not raining or I did not use any car wash lately.
Either the plug or coil went dead. Drove another 50 miles today and all is well.