How the Arizona Cardinals' Success Devalues the NFL's Regular Season

Analyst Written on January 23, 2009

If the Arizona Cardinals win the Super Bowl, it will be a well-earned and well-deserved victory. They will also be the undisputed champions of the NFL.

But what does their appearance in this year's Super Bowl tell us about the NFL's regular season product?

First, it tells NFL fans not to get too worried if their team loses a game prior to the month of January. They also can't be too upset if they lose another, or another, or another, or another after that. The Cardinals lost seven games this season, including four of their last six.

Second, it tells them not to be concerned if they lose by big margins late in the regular season. In December Arizona lost three games by the following margins: 48-20, 35-14 and 47-7.

Third, it tells Philadelphia fans not to get too excited in November and December if their team wins four out of five, including blowing out Dallas in the season finale. If they come out flat in January against the same team they crushed 48-20 the previous month, your championship dreams will end suddenly.

In other words, the results of the games in the regular season barely count, as long as your team can play .500 ball. All that matters in the NFL is the playoffs. That's why the NFL season really begins in January.

No wonder their fans get lost in fantasy leagues for 16 weeks every fall. That's the only way they can keep the games interesting.

College football fans don't need fantasy football. Our real league holds our full attention for 14 straight weeks, with dozens of playoff atmosphere games that rival the excitement of any of the NFL's 11 post-season games.

Sure, the season's climax isn't as definitive as the NFL's, but at least we get to keep arguing after the season's over. Isn't that what we guys like most about sports anyway?

Would a playoff solve the problem of the disputed championship in college football? Sure it would, but we would be throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

Let's not trade 14 weeks of playoff atmosphere football for three weeks of real playoffs.

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written on January 23, 2009 Opinion

Bleacher Report has a featured columnist opening for Arizona Cardinals.

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