It’s officially the one weekend of the NFL season that all 32 rosters hope they are not in attendance for, Pro Bowl weekend. For players, it’s a great honor to be selected to be in the Pro Bowl (or at least it used to be) because it means you had an outstanding year statistically, and were one of the most outstanding players at your position. It is also a great negotiating tool to use when it comes time to sign a new contract. However, there’s also a sense of disappointment if you are able to make it for the games, because it means you won’t be playing in that other game next weekend.
There used to be a strong sense of pride around being selected to the Pro Bowl, and there was also a really palpable sense of division-pride. It was AFC vs. NFC and guys were playing like it was their college rivalry game. The Pro Bowl game used to matter on a different level, players hated the idea that the opposite side of the league had better talent. Guys were going out there and playing like it was their last game, putting their bodies on the line to try and win a game that had literally no tangible benefit to winning. Just please watch this video of Sean Taylor (RIP) nearly decapitating Brian Moorman. That’s what the Pro Bowl used to be about! Also, this hit happened in the 7th year of Moorman’s career, he should know better than to run a fake punt in the direction of Sean Taylor. But play stupid games, win stupid prizes, right? But this game used to have some juice! Now, that is all a distant memory of greener pastures and harder hits.
Now to say these guys were treating the Pro Bowl like a regular season game would be a fib, but they were playing with purpose. Really the only areas that were not treated like a regular game were the hits to the quarterback, it was understood those guys were wearing an invisible “DO NOT HIT” sign. Other than that, guys were trying. But as the years rolled on and the contracts inflated, the Pro Bowl became less sought after for the game itself, and really just became an excuse for these guys to go on a vacation to Hawaii with their family. It is actually pretty amazing that the NFL was able to fool these guys into playing that hard in a Pro Bowl for that many years. Year after year the game itself continued to decline, players were trying less and less and it essentially became a touch football game in pads. The lack of effort form these guys got to an astonishing level, guys were literally just walking around mid-play without a care in the world.
It got so bad that in 2012, Roger Goodell had to step in and threatened to drop the Pro Bowl all together, saying “If we cannot accomplish that kind of standard (of high play), I am inclined to not play it. It is really tough to force competition, and after a long season, to ask those guys to go out and play at the same level they played is really tough.” Hmm, you don’t say? These guys who are making tens of millions of dollars a year to play football don’t want to play a game essentially for free and risk injury? Shocker. It goes back to what I said earlier, I can’t believe the “full-contact” version of the Pro Bowl lasted as long as it did.
When it became obvious that the players were not going to put out an entertaining product anymore the NFL decided to pivot, and in 2023 they dropped the pads and turned to flags introducing flag football as the new contest. This was really the only option the NFL and the NFLPA could agree on, with as intricate and expensive these players contracts have become there was simply no way they could continue with full-contact. But by now, the whole thing is a loss. If you tuned into the “Pro Bowl Skills Competition” last night, I would be interested to know how long it was before you changed the channel to something else. Was it one minute? two? Did you even make it 60 seconds? The whole thing has gotten so far away from football it’s clear they’re just trying to throw stuff at the wall to see what sticks. They started the night off with a throwing contest for quarterbacks, but they amount of time they were allotted was based on how their teammate did in a rapid fire trivia contest…(?) Later on, they had a WR competition where they had to catch three balls one-handed, catch a ball wearing mascot gloves, make a diving catch, but if they couldn’t make the diving catch they had to run through blocking dummies. The problem was half of the players either didn’t know the rules, or didn’t care and just broke them anyway. If you are struggling to find purpose in life and think your job is meaningless, at least you’re not a referee for a pro bowl competition (much like being a lifeguard at an Olympic swim meet). About halfway through the “games” there was a family feud style competition, and that’s when I signed off for bed.
The Pro Bowl games continue Sunday with the Pro Bowl Championship at 2 PM CT. If the golf tournament is a snooze, the NASCAR race at Bowman Gray is rained out, the Sabres are losing again and the Boston vs. Philadelphia game hasn’t tipped off yet, then you can guarantee I will be tuned in to see it all live!
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