Pick 6: The Super Bowl's Worst

Who am I to complain about the Super Bowl? This year's game drew an estimated 111 million viewers on average, making it the highest rated television event of all time. So obviously the NFL is doing something right.
The problem I have and have always had with the Super Bowl is that it has to cater to such a large audience -- many of which could care less about football. Those of us who follow football religiously are unfortunately force fed with crap such as: a four and a half pregame special, which, among other things aired a video montage likening football to wars and other events that altered America's social and political landscape, witty and creative commercials that are supposedly reason enough to watch the Super Bowl, and a Halftime Show that is sure to blow us away.
As a football fan, I can do without the pageantry, but I understand why it's there.
The game itself was unbelievable. Anytime the Super Bowl comes down to potential game-winning drive, we're in for a treat regardless of the outcome. We saw turnovers and dropped passes that affected the outcome of the game. We saw Ben Roethlisberger get off to a shaky start and then lead his team to a come back. We saw Aaron Rodgers continue his flawless play through out the playoffs. The actual game was everything a neutral observer could ask for. As is most often the case, the Super Bowl is more about the spectacle than the game itself. There were six things that left a sour taste in my mouth.
6) Alex Rodriguez is shown in a luxury suite, being fed popcorn by girlfriend Cameron Diaz. I can imagine most of us reacted the same way. "Oh, look at A-Rod and his 250 million dollars. Can't even feed himself." Or something along those lines. That's because we hate A-Rod. We've all been fed by our girlfriends/wives at least once in our lives (don't lie and say you haven't), just not in a luxury suite at the Super Bowl in front of 110 million people watching on television.
This reminds me of a conversation I once had in a Wrigleyville bar, while waiting in line to use the bathroom.
Me (the guy behind me is wearing a Yankees hat): So you're a Yankees fan?
Him: Yeah. (His response was followed by a few more exchanges between us, but I don't remember them. Sorry, I was drunk).
Him: I'm a fan of the old school Yankees though. Guys like Jeter, Posada, and Rivera.
Me: But those guys still play for them.
Him: Yeah, but they're not A-Rod.
That tells you all you need to know about A-Rod. Despite being one of the best hitters in baseball, and even when playing well, Yankees fans don't even like him. There's no comparable case in any other sport. Only LeBron James could come close, but Heat fans don't hate him. If LeBron were to play for another team in his career, then we would see an A-Rod parallel.
So there was A-Rod doing something ridiculous, let's make fun of him. It was completely warranted, but it really wasn't.

5) The Black Eyed Peas Halftime Performance. This slightly edged out Christina Aguilera's unique rendition of the National Anthem. BEP's halftime show was exactly what I expected, minus their inclusion of "Where Is The Love?" The song is essentially about compassion for your fellow man. It's one of the more heartfelt songs (despite the source) you'll hear on mainstream radio. Meanwhile, BEP delivered the song's message in light-up space suits. I know it's one of their bigger hits, but the time and place for this song was all wrong.
4) Jerry Jones' Luxury Suite. Some of the faces I saw in Jerrah's suite: George and Laura Bush, Jesse Jackson, John Madden, and Condolleeza Rice. Jerry Jones calls that his luxury suite, I call that hell.
3) Aaron Rodgers-Brett Favre Comparisons. These comparisons, while somewhat appropriate two years ago, grew increasingly old and tired this year. Aaron Rodgers has won his first Super Bowl in only his third year as a starter. He's won as many Super Bowls in three years as Brett Favre has in 20. You would think that would end the comparisons but it will only further them. Rodgers has to pass Favre or else we'll keep hearing about it. Favre played way too long, so he'll hold all of the individual accolades over Rodgers -- Super Bowl rings will be the main determinate of who was better. I will say this, with Brett Favre as your quarterback, you knew he was just as capable of losing a game as he was of winning one. With Rodgers, I don't sense that. We're still early in his career, but when has he given the indication of trying to do too much, and hurt his team in the process?
2) The Ticket Debacle. The NFL and Jerry Jones, in an effort to maximize attendance and revenue tried to add about 15,000 seats. Hours before kick-off, 400 fans found out that their tickets were not being honored because they had not passed the safety inspection from fire marshals. As a consolation prize, those turned away were given three times the value of their tickets and tickets to next year's Super Bowl.
Sure that sounds like a fair compromise, except the feeling of seeing your team in the Super Bowl is irreplaceable. Unless Green Bay or Pittsburgh is in the Super Bowl next year -- I mean 2013, the fans come out with the short end of the stick. I really feel for those people, I'd be seething.
1) The Impending Lockout. The Packers should have been given two Lombardi trophies because that's what it's going to feel like. The NFL lockout will strip us of a 2011-12 season, so we'll have a long time to remember this year. Let me recap for Bears fans:
A) The Packers just won the Super Bowl.
B) There will be no football next year.
C) When football resumes, the Packers will have a better team than they did this year.
D) 27 year-old Aaron Rodgers (or Tom Brady) is the best quarterback in the NFL.
E) Rodgers has the Brady-like quality of being able to win with whatever he has to work with. So should key offensive players go down (like this year), or the defense has a major let down (2013), the Packers will still always be in contention.
I'm going to go and play in traffic now.

It Was Only A Matter Of Time

You have to love the NFL. Just when you think the league has been around long enough that nothing new can possibly happen...BOOM...the 2010 NFL Playoffs. To recap, we've seen:
1) The 7-9 Seahawks become the first team in NFL history to make the playoffs with a losing record. Not only that, but they knocked out the defending Super Bowl Champions in the first round.
2) Mark Sanchez tied the record for most career road playoff wins by a quarterback. You read that right. If Sanchez and the Jets win in Pittsburgh on Sunday, the 24 year-old will will have the most career road playoff victories in only the second year of his career.
3) Brady, Manning, and Brees (27 combined playoff wins) are all sitting at home, while Rodgers, Cutler, and Sanchez (7 combined playoff wins) are still playing.
4) More creative uses of the word "foot" than you ever expected. The sport in question is football, after all.
5) Last and most important, the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers will meet for only the second time in playoff history. The best rivalry in sports and they've met 182 times up until this point.

Who would have thought that in 2011, we'd see the most important game of the most important rivalry in the NFL. Sure, the 1941 meeting  was just as meaningful at the surface. That game served the same purpose that the NFC Championship will. But let's not forget two crucial points. First, there were ten NFL teams in 1941. It was hardly as much of an accomplishment to make it to the NFL Championship in 1941 than it is to make it to the Super Bowl in 2011. Second, the NFL in 1941 was robbed of plenty of potential talent. Black players, despite playing in the late 1920s and early 1930s were basically refused by owners in the 1940s, who agreed under the table to bar them from competition. The US was also just entering World War II and shipping over potential NFL players to Europe and the Pacific. Not to mention, professional football wasn't a lucrative job back then. Many former college football players were better off finding work elsewhere than continuing their football career.
So this is clearly the biggest game of the storied rivalry, but how did a Green Bay-Chicago playoff game of this magnitude not happen sooner? Let's break down the different phases of the NFL playoffs beginning in 1933.

1933-1966 - The NFL is split into two divisions. The teams with the best record in each division face off for the NFL Title. Imagine if we just let the Patriots and Falcons play in the Super Bowl this year. Thank God for expansion.
If two teams finished with the same record atop the division, then they played each other to see who would go to the NFL title game. This is exactly what happened in 1941. The Bears and Packers both finished with a 10-1 record and battled for the opportunity to take on the 8-3 New York Giants in the title game. The Bears won 33-14 and went on defeat the Giants 37-9 for the title.
It's amazing to think that such an improbable scenario led to the only playoff meeting of these two teams.
1967-1969 - The NFL splits into four divisions -- two in each conference. The two division winners in the same conference face each other. The two winners of these match ups play each other in the Super Bowl. The Bears and Packers are in the same division, and a tie atop the division was broken through a series of tie-brokers, not a game. This era would mark the only time in NFL playoff history when it was impossible for the Bears and Packers to meet in the playoffs.
1970-1978 - The AFL and NFL merge, leading to an expanded playoff format. The NFL is now composed of three divisions in each conference. The playoffs are composed of eight teams, the three division winners, and a wild card from each conference. The Bears and Packers never make the playoffs in the same year during this era.
1979-1989 - The NFL expands to a ten team playoff format. Still three division winners, but an extra wild card from each conference is added. The two wild card teams take part in what is basically a play-in game. The winner faces the number 1 seed, while the 2 and 3 seeds face each other. The Bears and Packers do not make the playoffs in the same year during this era either.
1990-2001 - The NFL expands to a 12 team playoff format. Still three division winners, but now three wild cards from each conference. The Bears and Packers now qualify for four of the potential six playoff spots, the best odds they'd ever had to meet in the playoffs up to this point, and best odds they've had since.
Not surprisingly they would both make the playoffs in the 1994-95 season, and the 2001-02 season. In 1994, both teams earned a wild card berth, Packers were the four seed and the Bears the six seed. They both won their opening round game and both lost their second round game, squashing a potential NFC Championship match-up.
In 2001, the Bears won the NFC Central and earned the two seed, while the Packers earned the four seed as the top wild card team. The Packers won their opening round game before falling to the number one seeded Rams in the divisional round. The Bears would lose to the Eagles, also in the divisional round, again preventing a possible Bears-Packers NFC Championship game.
2002-Present - The NFL realigns to four divisions per conference, with each division winner making the playoffs, as well as two wild card teams from each conference. Viola! The playoff format that we know today. This is the first year in this era that the Bears and Packers have made the playoffs the same year, and the 60 year anniversary of their first playoff match-up.

So that's how we got here. I'm not even going to attempt an explanation of what's about to ensue, keys to the game, who has an advantage where, or who is going to win. I don't know any of that and won't pretend to. I just have three thoughts.

1) It's fascinating to watch the Rodgers-Cutler contrast unfold. When Cutler was dealt to the Bears two years ago, onlookers gushed about a possible rivalry with him and Rodgers for the next ten years. Then Cutler had a poor 2009 season and it came to light that the two were actually good friends. The possibility of a good rivalry, or at least the kind that the media and fans wanted was pretty much dead.
Here we are in 2011 and each quarterback's public perception is beginning to take shape. Rodgers is the media darling for various reasons. He was commended for the way he's handled the Favre saga. He's played extremely well, to the point where Green Bay fans don't miss Favre even a little bit -- something I would have thought to be impossible three years ago.
Rodgers is also playing out of his mind. Every quarterback has their defining "I'm Here" moment. Rodgers has already played his way into the elite level of quarterbacks, he just needed the stage to show it to the world. What better way than to outshine Brady, Manning, and Brees in the playoffs (check) and lead his team to a Super Bowl victory (gulp). The stars seem to be aligning for Green Bay, and in two years or less, Aaron Rodgers will be regarded as the top quarterback in the NFL.
Then there's Jay Cutler. Rick Reilly wrote a not so flattering piece about him last week. There's nothing new here. Denver fans could have told you this five years ago, and Bears fans two years ago. It actually helped Reilly more than it hurt Cutler. No one under the age of 50 even knew Rick Reilly was still writing -- except for the people who noticed Reilly's miniature head on the ESPN.com front page while they were checking for Bill Simmons' column.
The point I'm trying to make is that Cutler's perceived douchiness could be just the element that this rivalry needs. Everybody loves Rodgers! He's the People's Champ. Just look at the way he shines his imaginary title belt after every touchdown.
Who likes Cutler? No one. Not even Bears fans. If NFL fans outside of Denver and Chicago were indifferent towards Cutler before, they sure won't be now that Cutler has the chance to win a Super Bowl. Look at the demeanor of the beloved Super Bowl winning quarterbacks Brady, Manning, and Brees. All are perceived as class acts, hard workers, great teammates, and leaders. In other words, their public perceptions are flawless. If he isn't included already, Rodgers fits the criteria for this club.
Cutler is the spoiled brat with bad body language. He'll curse out a referee or call out a teammate before he places the blame on himself, and his greatest contribution as a leader this year has been high-fiving his teammates after a successful PAT.
This rivalry has potential, even if they do like each other. Let us fans pretend.
2) Let me be the 11,765,093th person to comment on how improbable it is for the Bears and Packers to be in the NFC Championship game. The Packers have suffered a career-ending injury at seemingly every position this year -- including two Aaron Rodgers' concussions. I'm beginning to think Rodgers is just that good. It doesn't matter who you put out there with him -- he'll find a way to win.
Here's an underrated subplot of this year's Packers. I think most Packers fans assume that if this is what they're doing with a bunch of back-ups, imagine what next year will be like when everyone is healthy! This is the NFL and it usually doesn't work that way. I'm just going to pull up a seat and watch the slow burn of disappointment come next year.
The Bears have provided the blueprint for a roller coaster season. Very few people had high hopes for them at the start of the season. Then they pulled off three straight wins, two of them against the Packers and Cowboys, who were considered the two best teams in the NFC at the time. We started to believe, and then the Giants game brought us back to the team we were expecting to see this year. Add in losses to the Seahawks and Redskins and the season looked to be imploding before our eyes. Then a five game winning streak, including a win against the Eagles, the hottest team in the NFL at the time. It was that game that I think people started to believe (again).
The Bears are still underdogs as they've been all season. I like that. I like that the Packers have already been crowned Super Bowl champions. Nevermind that they have to play in Chicago against the only team (besides the possible Super Bowl foe New York Jets) who have shown the ability to stop their offense. A team has never and will never ride the wave of luck all the way to the Conference Championship game. These teams are more even than anyone is willing to acknowledge.
3) That being said, I'm admitting that this game makes me nervous. It's the most nervous I've ever been before a sporting event in my life. It's only Monday. You probably won't get a Packers or Bears fan to admit it, but the nervousness is resting somewhere in the back of their brain and will come out a little bit more each day. It's not that each fan base doesn't think they will win -- they just know there's always the possibility they won't.
I'm normally a proponent of "The bigger the game, the worse the loss," theory. For instance, some would say after losing the Super Bowl, "Well, at least we made it to the Super Bowl." Not me. Losing the Super Bowl is the worst kind of loss because you got so close. But not in this case. Losing to the Packers, knowing they could win the Super Bowl would hurt ten times more than losing the Super Bowl for the second time in five years. The thought will cross every Green Bay and Chicago fan between now and Sunday. Millions of people will be too ashamed to leave their house come 5:30 Sunday evening.