Ten Thoughts on the NFL, the playoffs, and the Bears

1) The New Orleans Saints were screwed by the no-call on that blatant pass interference in the fourth quarter of their NFC Championship game against the Los Angeles Rams. There’s no denying that.

But that’s not the only reason they lost the game.

There were other missed calls, plus there’s no way to know what would have happened after the play had a flag been thrown. For all we know, Drew Brees could have thrown an interception, just like he did on the first possession of overtime.

Saints’ fans were pissed, and rightfully so, but some are going overboard. There are billboards being put up to cry about the no-call and there’s a lawsuit pending against the NFL.

According to Darren Rovell these are a few of the damages being filed in the lawsuit against the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell.

• Mental anguish and emotional trauma
• Loss of faith in the NFL
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Loss of entertainment
• Distrust of the game

Goodell has the power to make the teams replay the end of the game, but that’s not going to happen.

Some people are too emotionally fragile to watch sports. If a game that you aren’t even participating in leads you to mental anguish, emotional trauma, or loss of enjoyment of life, then you might have some others issues going on in your head.

2) Kansas City Chiefs’ fans are upset that their offense didn’t get a shot with the ball in overtime. The New England Patriots won the coin toss and then went 13 plays for 75 yards and a touchdown.

The big argument making the rounds is that the NFL overtime rules are dumb because the team winning the coin toss has the advantage. Many fans want the NFL to adopt the college overtime rules, but did you realize that the percentage of teams that win the game after winning the coin toss is actually a little higher with the college rules?

3) Speaking of rules, make more plays reviewable!

4) I’m just as sick of seeing the Patriots in the Super Bowl as anyone, but can I share a dirty little secret?

I actually like watching them play football.

The Patriots aren’t like some teams where they have a specific identity, because the Patriots are able to morph into when ever they need to in order to win. Their offense is led by one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, Tom Brady, but if they can exploit a weakness by running the ball, they’ll run it all day. On defense, they’ve mastered taking away an oppositions most dangerous weapon, and they’ve been known for their versatility throughout the Bill Belichick era.

5) So with all that praise out of the way for the Pats, I’m picking the Rams to win in the Super Bowl.

I think the Patriots’ game-plan will be to stop L.A.’s running attack, but with the Rams’ offense not having one go-to-guy, they’ll still be able to move the ball.

My preseason Super Bowl pick was the Rams, so I see no reason to change that now. I’m going with the Rams 27, and the Patriots 24, with Aaron Donald winning the game’s MVP award with a multi-sack game.

6) The Chiefs have fired defensive coordinator Bob Sutton after they struggled to slow down the Patriot offense on Sunday, and the hot rumor to replace him is former Jets and Bills head coach Rex Ryan. Rex coordinated some pretty good defenses with the Ravens back before his head coaching gigs, and I think this would be a good move by the Chiefs.

7) A lot of fans are concerned when they see a “name” coach up for a coordinator role, with the fear that they are just using the job as a springboard to a head coaching position.

I always look at coaches leaving as a good thing. Successful franchises have their coordinators poached. That’s the reality of winning. Teams should not only be grooming backup players for an increased role with the team, but also grooming assistant coaches for a more prominent role on their coaching staff.

Take the Chicago Bears recent hire of Chuck Pagano as defensive coordinator. I hope he has so much success in Chicago that he’s a hot candidate to be a head coach in 2020. Him doing his job so well that another franchise wants him to run their show will likely mean that the Bears are good again.

The Bears good two years in a row? Sign me up for that.

8) A Chief fan was caught throwing a snowball on to the field a week ago, and now it looks like a Chief fan may have been using a fricken laser beam on Sunday.

On the ass-hat fan scale, where do Chiefs’ fans rank?

9) The Philadelphia Eagles decided to give quarterback Nick Foles a playing time bonus of $1 million dollars even though he fell 4 snaps short. That was a classy move on their part.

The Eagles also have to decide if they’ll pick up a $20 million option on his contract for 2019, or allow him to be a free agent. I’ve seen some chatter from Philly fans that want the team to re-up with Foles and trade Carson Wentz.

Foles is 30, while Wentz is 26 and coming off another injury. If you were making the call for the Eagles, which QB are you keeping?

10) I think it’s great that the Bears had three more players added to the Pro Bowl. Mitchell Trubisky, Cody Whitehair, and Charles Leno Jr., were all recently added and will play on the NFC roster along with Kyle Fuller, Eddie Jackson, Akiem Hicks, and Tarik Cohen (Khalil Mack is “injured” and will not play in the game).

Popularity contest or not, it’s still special to don the jersey and practice with the best players in your conference.

You don’t think Trubisky will love the chance to talk football with the Saints’ Drew Brees?