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"Lately, in our society, it seems that we have sympathy only for the losers and misfits. Let us also cheer for the doers and the winners. The zeal to be first in everything has always been American, to win and to win and to win. Not everyone can be a winner all the time but everyone can make that effort, that commitment to excellence.
"And if we fall a little short of our goals, at least we have the satisfaction of knowing we tried. As President Theodore Roosevelt said: “It is not the critic that counts...The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena...who strives valiantly, who errs and often comes up short again and again...who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
From Vince Lombardi on Football, pg. 16, Ed. George L. Flynn, New YorkGraphic Society and Wallynn, Inc.1973
Excellence isn’t against NFL rules—at least not yet.
But, the league punishes success anyway.
They punish success to achieve parity among the teams. In theory, when more teams have a chance to win it all, the ratings are higher. That means more advertising dollars for the networks and bigger TV contracts for the league.
Twelve games into the season and your team has four wins and eight losses?
Keep watching.
They still have a chance, just like the 2008 Chargers.
Current rules allow scenarios where nine win teams make the playoffs and go to Super Bowls, while 11 win teams miss the playoffs.
Parity.
It’s what the league wants.
They don’t want dominant teams. They want mediocrity. They don’t want dynasties.
They want to spread the wealth.
So, the league punishes successful teams, hoping to weaken them, and rewards bad teams, hoping to strengthen them.
Start with the draft.
Barring trades, the Super Bowl winner picks last in each round. The worst team picks first.
Why not have an even playing field?
Why not have a rotating system where a different team gets the first choice each year?
Each team could pick first once every 32 years. The year after a team got the top pick, it would get the 32nd pick, and each year thereafter, it would move up one pick. The NFL doesn’t do it this way because they want to weaken stronger teams and strengthen weaker teams to achieve parity.
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