The NFL Season from My Perspective

I want to work for ESPN.  This is not a secret; even my current employer knows it on some level.  Since that is highly unlikely, I may need to sprinkle (even shower) this blog with sports related musings.  I will try to clearly identify them up front so that my non-sports loving followers, or casual readers can skip over as needed.

The 2011 NFL Season was almost the season that did not happen.  An eleventh hour compromise allowed the season to take place.  On the eve of the conference championship games I would like to talk about four teams.  Three of my four are not playing tomorrow (but probably should have been), and the team that is playing is one that I could do without.

New England Patriots.  The New England Patriots went a very quiet 13-3 this season playing with one of the worst defenses I have ever seen.  Still when you have a future Hall of Famer in Tom Brady and surround him with weapons such as Rob Gronkowski, you can make up for it.  Last week they ended Tebow Time with a vengeance much to the dismay of the city of Denver, which will be a separate post at a later date.  Tomorrow they will play the Baltimore Ravens.  The team I thought at the beginning of the season would represent the AFC in the Super Bowl.  Now I must admit that I had them playing the Green Bay Packers.  So let’s see if I can go .500.  This leads me to the shock of the season…

Green Bay Packers.  The reigning Super Bowl Champions went a very impressive 15-1 throughout the 2011 regular season.  In their pursuit of a perfect season they overshadowed everyone.  Of course Aaron Rodgers and his annoying State Farm commercials helped with that cause.  But I digress.  The team seemed pretty invincible up until Kansas City, and their anemic team, put a whooping on them in Week 15.  Yeah Chiefs!  In Week 16, the Packers decided to rest Rodgers giving their number two QB, Matt Flynn an opportunity.  Well he sure proved that he could play; let’s suffice it to say he will not be a number two for long.  The Quarterback succession in Green Bay is really quite irritating for a non-fan, such as me.  In my years of football fandom it started with the worst of them all, #4 aka Brett Favre aka Danny’s Man-Crush, which led to Aaron Rodgers who won a Super Bowl, and a solid back-up waiting quietly in the wings in Matt Flynn.  The two weeks of rest may have been the demise of Mr. Rodgers, or perhaps he was spending too much time perfecting his annoying touchdown dance (the championship belt across his waist) since the Packers lost last week at home to the red-hot New York Giants led by Eli Manning…

Indianapolis Colts.  Speaking of the Manning Family, let’s talk about Peyton.  Now I am not a Peyton Manning Hater.  I don’t even hate the Indianapolis Colts.  I just think it is a team that lacks foresight in their front office.  Since drafting Manning the team appears to be operating under the delusion that he would neither get injured nor would he ever age.  Well this was the year that both those things happened.  The result?  A dismal 2-14 season that saw at least three different quarterbacks come in and try to lead the team with little to no success.  I just do not understand how you do not have a clear line of succession in place?  The team has also fired much of their front office, as well as their head coach.  The timing of the coach’s firing is a bit suspect since many of the high profile coaches have already accepted positions with other teams.  The Colts franchise literally rests on the neck of Peyton Manning.  Well, that and a little luck; Andrew Luck that is, who should be the Colts choice with first pick in the 2012 NFL Draft.

Chicago Bears.  When you talk about luck, you can certainly say it was not on the side of the Bears this season.  My beloved Bears looked at the onset like this could be their year.  While the defense has always been their staple, the offense looked like it had something going for itself.  Jay Cutler would be leading a Mike Martz designed offense, the offensive line seemed to be semi-competent even formidable at times, and a solid run game in Matt Forte.  Well then it all just fell apart.  Jay Cutler went down with a thumb injury, which would have been bad enough since the Bears considered themselves grateful to have one solid quarterback, more than one was just too much to hope for.  Then Matt Forte goes down too.  No team, I don’t care who you are, can be asked to make up that much offensive production with back-ups.  So the Bears season came to an end without a trip to the play-offs.  Mike Martz decided to take his “Greatest Show on Turf” offense elsewhere, but there is always a silver lining.  Jerry Angelo, the Bears General Manager or as he was known to me – the bane of my existence, was fired.  I came up with a song the day that he was fired that is sung to the tune of the “Wicked Witch is Dead” from the Wizard of Oz.   It went something like this, Ding Dong Angelo’s Gone; the Wicked Jerry Angelo is Gone.  I love that movie.

Here’s hoping the four remaining teams (Baltimore – New England and New York – San Francisco) give us some enjoyable football tomorrow!  For those of without a team to root for, it’s all we can hope for at the end of the season.