The Gunslinger and NFL Strike Again

The NFC Championship Game has just concluded.  I really didn’t care who won this game – but as the game was concluding in overtime, two long-standing truths about professional football showed up in this game.  First, Brett Favre (The Gunslinger) will always break your heart if he is the QB for your team.  Number two, the NFL’s format for overtime Sucks!

I am totally convinced that Brett Favre, no matter how much he tries, will be destined to throw an interception as his last official pass in the NFL.  During his last game as a Packer two season’s ago in the NFC Championship Game, he threw a horrible pass for an interception when he was attempting to bring his team back in the last minutes, and he did it again tonight for the Vikings.  The biggest difference tonight is that he didn’t have to throw the pass.  The Vikings were in control.  They were tied with the Saints, had the ball in Saints territory, and only needed a short gain to kick a game winning field goal.  The Offensive Coordinator drew up a great play that had The Gunslinger roll-out to the right with the option to run or pass.  This was a brilliant play call.  The Saints were not expecting it.  The Gunslinger has not been known for scrambling for a long time, and had actually been injured in the 3rd quarter, so the Saints were not even looking for this play call.  As the play was happening, Favre had open field to run.  But once a Gunslinger, always a Gunslinger.  Throughout his career he has made incredible passes in impossible situations – but he also makes stupid decisions at inappropriate times. 

His last pass tonight – and perhaps the last of his Hall of Fame career – is one of the stupid variety.  Instead of taking the 5-10 yards his feet would have gotten him, the Gunslinger decided to go for the improbably – and turned the ball over by throwing a bad pass into the middle of the field with only seven seconds left in the game.

The good news was, they were still tied and were heading to overtime.  But this is where the NFL has their turn at playing Scrooge.  The NFL plays a sudden death overtime with the first team to score winning the game.  Since it is possible – and happens more than you would think – that the team receiving the kickoff in overtime never gives up the ball, scores, and wins the game - it puts a premium on winning the coin flip.  Ridiculous!

This overtime rule is stupid during regular season games – but to decide which team goes to the Super Bowl is a travesty.  Tonight’s game was an instant classic.  Both teams threw everything they had at each other.  It was a back and forth game with each team answering the other team’s punches.  Never was the lead greater than seven points.  So for the Saints to win the toss of the coin, take the ball down the field for five minutes, kick a 40 yard field goal, and get to go to the Super Bowl without giving the Vikings a chance to respond makes no sense.  It never will make sense, and I will never understand why this is the design the NFL has chosen.

The Saints are a great story.  They deserve congratulations for going to their first Super Bowl.  I just fear this game will be remembered more for another sad ending by The Gunslinger.  There will also be a lot of talk about the overtime format of the NFL.  While Favre will probably never get his chance again, perhaps the NFL will find an opportunity to improve their game for the future.