Top 10 Stories of the 2009 NFL Season

What a wild season it's been—full of drama and excitement, and we haven't even gotten to the playoffs!

As always, there are an abundance of stories that made this season different from any other. Records being chased and off-field drama, along with a few surprise turnarounds (for better or worse) gave NFL fans across the nation a lot to cheer and jeer.

As is usually the case with these top 10 lists, it’s hard to not only boil down the whole season to 10 stories, but it is also daunting to organize those 10 stories into an order of importance. This is my objective opinion.

So, without further ado, here is my list of the top 10 stories from the 2009 NFL season.

10. Wes Welker Tears Ligaments in Knee, Will Miss Playoffs

First, Tom Brady.

Then, Wes Welker.

For two consecutive seasons, two of New England’s most potent and important weapons on offense have gone down with season-ending knee injuries.

Welker’s 122 receptions heading into Sunday’s game were marked by his ability to catch the ball in the middle of the field, knowing that someone was going to lay a vicious hit on him.

Then, on Welker’s lone reception in Sunday’s loss to the Texans, he incurred a season-ending injury to his knee…and no one even laid a finger on him.

Ironic? Yeah, you could say that.

Speaking of irony, New England fans are growing incredibly angry with Bernard Pollard and his involvement in the injury of New England’s key players. Although neither was intentional—and Pollard only fell on Welker after his knee had already folded like a poker player—we all know how New England fans like to hold a grudge.

Though this story rounds out the list at No. 10, there's potential for it to be a little higher on the list if his absence proves essential to the Patriots’ playoffs destiny.

What if the Ravens' blitz gets to Brady without Welker as his security blanket? The Patriots will be stuck wondering "what if?" all off-season long.

But what if they go the distance? If the Patriots are able to overcome the absence of Welker’s 123 regular season catches and make a deep run in the playoffs, Tom Brady could remove any doubt that he is the quarterback of the decade.

In either event, the impact of Welker's loss in the playoffs could arguably become a top-five story.

9. Titans Start 0-6 with Kerry Collins, Finish 8-8 with Vince Young

After starting 10-0 last season, the Titans had immense expectations heading into this season.

Despite losing key defensive starter Albert Haynesworth to free agency, their lineup looked virtually the same as in 2008 when they earned home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

After the 10-0 start, they finished 3-4, with the final defeat coming at home against the Baltimore Ravens in the divisional round of the playoffs.

At that point, nothing was the same.

They lost two close games to Pittsburgh and Houston to start the 2009 season. After that, everything snowballed.

It’s fitting, then, that the heavy snowfall at Gillette Stadium marked not only their worst loss all season, but the worst loss in NFL history—a 59-0 drubbing at the hands of Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.

Chris Johnson (who I will address later) literally carried the team to what little success they had through that stretch.

The defense, however, was a big disappointment. They allowed five 300-yard passers in their six-game losing streak.

Despite the defense's titanic ineptitude, much of the blame fell on Kerry Collins. His ball control style of play had earned him the dubious role of "game manager," and he was signed to a lucrative contract just after the 2008 season.

Collins was a mark of inconsistency in 2009, though. He threw more interceptions in the first six games of the season than he did all of last year. He was unable to put anything together in a close game against the Jets, throwing 13 straight incompletions in the third and fourth quarter.

In the New England game, Collins went 2-for-12 for negative seven yards. Yes, negative seven. Throw an interception into the mix, and it’s a wonder his passer rating was so high—an astonishing 4.9.

Hardly a game manager, if you ask me.

The Titans had a bye week after the loss to regroup. During that time, Jeff Fisher named Vince Young the starting quarterback for the remainder of the season. So out came Collins, and in went “In-Vince-ible” Vince Young.

And for a while, the Titans really seemed invincible.

Interestingly enough, Young helped the Titans pick up their first win largely by playing Collins’ role as game manager.

He went 15-of-18 for 125 yards and threw a touchdown, substantially supplementing Chris Johnson’s 228-yard rushing domination (which I’ll address a little later).

A season which started with such high expectations quickly went down the tubes, but Vince Young has given Nashville natives a lot of hope for next season.

Has Young finally arrived? Only time will tell, but it’s promising to note that his only poor performance came in the 10th straight victory of San Diego’s 11-game winning streak.

Tom Brady may have won the AP Comeback Player of the Year award, but Vince Young's comeback story is one of the best of the decade.

8. Chris Johnson Chases 2,000/Marshall Faulk/Eric Dickerson

In No. 9, I addressed how eliminating the erratic performance by the quarterback was essential to the team's turnaround.

Yet, amid the muck of a quarterback controversy, Chris Johnson's performance was never anything short of remarkable.

Amid the Titans’ return from the grave, and even during their 0-6 run to start the season, Johnson was ridiculously consistent.

While Adrian Peterson couldn’t seem to grab hold of a 100-yard game in the second half of the season, Chris Johnson finished the season on a record-setting 10-game streak of 100+ yards rushing, capped off by Sunday’s 134-yard performance against the Jaguars, which put him at 2,006 yards rushing on the season.

Johnson joins an elite club of only five other 2,000-yard running backs that includes Eric Dickerson, Jamal Lewis, Barry Sanders, Terrell Davis, and O.J. Simpson.

He had 2,509 yards from scrimmage, good to break Marshall Faulk’s old record of 2,429, set back in 1999.

He didn’t break Eric Dickerson’s record of 2,105 rushing yards, but he certainly proved he is in that same class of running backs and has even become an innovator for his position with the way he plays. His agility and quickness help him get into space more quickly than most running backs, and his breakaway acceleration is unrivaled—as proven by his 4.23 40-yard dash.

No running back in the NFL matches Chris Johnson's game-breaking ability.

7. Chris Henry Dies at Age 26

His was a story of maturation. A talented but naïve young kid, Henry’s fame went to his head, and he couldn’t stay out of trouble.

Then, once he finally seemed to set himself on the straight and narrow, his life was over.

He looked great in the preseason, hauling in a touchdown catch in each of the four games.

His speed supplemented Chad Ochocinco's perfectly, and the two vertical threats proved to be too much for opposing defenses to manage.

We’ll never know how Henry would have turned out in the long run. Still, his change in attitude was evident.

Even though speculators would have you think otherwise, the events that led to his death do not refute his dramatic turnaround from the criminal of yesteryear.

6. Cincinnati Bengals Win AFC North One Year After Finishing 4-11-1

Before the season, sports analysts debated to no end over which team would win the AFC North—the Pittsburgh Steelers or the Baltimore Ravens.

Hardly anyone expected the Cincinnati Bengals to claim the division crown.

After a season of futility in which they had the sixth overall pick in the NFL draft, expectations were low for the 2009 season.

Why wouldn't they be?

Carson Palmer was coming back from a season-ending injury and subsequent surgery, the defense was atrocious, and the faith of the running game rested in the hands of an ex-con who had made a career of failing to live up to expectations.

With expectations already low, that couldn’t be a good sign.

Or could it?

The Bengals largely have Cedric Benson to thank for rounding out their pass-happy offense with a solid ground game. Benson had his first 1,000-yard season of his career and matched his career high of six rushing touchdowns.

For a team that had been marked by its astounding offense for the majority of the decade, its defense showed anything but the lack of discipline that had Marvin Lewis screaming himself deaf week after week.

In fact, the Bengals’ defense may be one of the biggest surprises of the season. They ranked sixth in points and fourth in total yards, including an impressive seventh ranking against the run (98.3 yards per game).

Their dramatic improvement comes just one season after the defense ranked in the bottom half in nearly every statistical category that matters, including 21st against the run.

For the first time since the 1998 season, the Bengals swept the Steelers. This was the Bengals’ first time sweeping their division. They’re the 12th team to sweep their division since 1998.

Another light of hope for the Bengals and their fans: five of the last six teams to sweep their division have gone on to the Super Bowl.

5. Brett Favre Has His Best Statistical Season...As a Minnesota Viking

At the beginning of the season, ESPN and every sports blog in the nation was buzzing over the thought of Brett Favre wearing purple and yellow.

Now, the most lasting images of his career may be in those very colors.

Favre has had more than one miraculous throw this season, the most memorable of which is his game-winning heave to Greg Lewis in the back of the end zone to win the game against the San Francisco 49ers.

The questions about Favre were plentiful to start the season and with good reason—he faded drastically down the stretch last year with the New York Jets. Many placed the blame on Brett for NY missing the playoffs.

As a result, everyone wondered if the Vikings would get "good Favre" or "bad Favre."

I think we got our answer.

His 33 touchdown passes are tied for fourth-best in his career, but his seven interceptions are a career low.

The speculation was whether we would witness another late season fade, as we’ve come to expect from Favre over the past few years.

Last season, his arm grew tired, and it was revealed at the end of the season that he needed major work on a biceps tendon.

Any questions that rose from a couple of shaky games in December were put to rest when the Vikings laid the smackdown on the Giants in the final game of the season.

Love him or hate him, Favre's comeback at 40 years old is nothing short of incredible.

4. Saints Start 13-0, Lose Last Three

The second Cinderella season for the Saints in the past four years was marked by a skyrocket to the top of the NFL rankings.

Whether they ran out of gas or their gadgets went awry is anyone's guess, but they fell back to earth. Hard.

Here’s a scary statistic if you’re a Saints fan: No team has ever lost the last three games of the season and gone on to win the Super Bowl.

But the Saints have built their season on being the first New Orleans team to do a lot of things, not the least of which was winning their first 13.

And don’t get me wrong—it’s not simply that the Saints lost their last three games that has a lot of people questioning what to expect from them down the stretch.

More to the point, it’s the teams against which they’ve lost.

Their first loss of the season came at home to Dallas, who have been historically awful in December.

Then, they lost an overtime thriller to division rival Tampa Bay, who have had an incredibly bad season (3-13) in Raheem Morris’ first as head coach.

The starters rested in the final game of the season, probably in a move to avoid another demoralizing loss by a team whose confidence, which was filled with hot air and rose to the skies with 13 wins, was quickly deflated in those two losses.

That being said, the Saints are definitely the team to watch in the playoffs. They have to turn it back on fast if they want to stay alive for long.

3. Pittsburgh Steelers’ Fall from Grace

Less than a year ago, the Steelers won Super Bowl XLIII on what was one of the most incredible catches in Super Bowl history by Santonio Holmes.

Since then, they’ve spent a lot of time scratching their heads.

They started off the season 6-2 and finished the season 3-0. The five-game losing streak in the middle is what killed them.

They lost a lot of games to teams they really should have beaten.

Yet, LaMarr Woodley had the audacity to call out the Bengals and Patriots before Week 17 for laying down to spite the Steelers and keep them out of the playoffs.

The only ones to blame for the Steelers not making the playoffs are themselves.

Although the games they lost were mostly close battles that came down to the wire, the games against Oakland, Kansas City, and Cleveland shouldn’t have even been close. The Steelers, talent-wise, are stacked from top to bottom and have tons of depth. Needless to say, those three teams are not.

Troy Polamalu was bitten by the Madden Curse and missed 11 games this season to injury. The Steelers were 4-1 with him in the lineup but went just 5-6 without him.

And talk about a curse, usually the Super Bowl loser is the one to miss the playoffs. That was reversed this year, as the Arizona Cardinals made the playoffs in the NFC, despite being victims to the Steelers’ Super Bowl XLIII victory.

Surely the Steelers will regroup in the off-season and return to the top next year...unless Cincinnati has something to say about it.

2. 4th-and-2

For a single down-and-distance, I don’t think any is more telling or points more to one specific play than “4th-and-2.”

All you need to say is "4th-and-2" to make any Patriots fan cringe.

It’s not so much what occurred in the eight seconds from the snap to the whistle rather than all that occurred around it.

Tom Brady had burned the team’s second timeout for seemingly no reason, just 15 seconds game time before the play.

Then, right before the play, the Patriots were forced to call their final timeout because there was confusion over whether they were going to go for it or punt. Half the special teams committee was on the field, and half the first-team offense was there as well.

Then, of course, came the play itself. It wasn't much of a surprise, a screen pass to Kevin Faulk to move the chains...but he bobbled the pass as he was tackled, and the referee ruled him down just shy of the first-down marker.

Because they had no timeouts left, the Patriots didn’t have the option to challenge the spot of the ball on the 4th-and-2 play. It is believed by most that if the Patriots had the challenge to use, the ball would have been spotted ahead of the first down marker.

The mass amounts of confusion and miscommunication proved detrimental down the stretch. Belichick had a lot of answering to do to the media for that one.

So what did he do the next week? He proved that he genuinely doesn't care what the media thinks about him and went for it on 4th-and-1 from Miami's six-yard line instead of taking the field goal.

They lost to the Dolphins, 22-21.

1. Colts Start 14-0, Rest Their Starters And End Hopes at 16-0

The Indianapolis Colts decided to forego a 16-0 season, realizing that it would mean nothing without a Super Bowl trophy.

And if the Colts fail to win it all this season, Bill Polian will be forever scrutinized.

At first glance, it looks as though the Colts are trying to show the Patriots and football fans everywhere “how it’s supposed to be done.” The case in point being that New England's 16-0 regular season doesn’t matter because they didn't go 3-0 when it mattered—the playoffs.

There are many situations in which I would condone resting starters to stay healthy for the playoffs.

New England’s game against Houston on Sunday would be one of those instances—and obviously, their decision didn’t pay off.

When your eye is on perfection and you’re only two games away, your team has a rhythm going that is clearly disturbed by resting the key players that got you there.

No one is saying it, but I'm sure some of the players feel like they've been robbed of something very special.

I suppose it’s better that they pulled the starters in Week 16 rather than waiting until the last week of the season, in a game where they could have been 15-0. Too much time off the field can really hurt your rhythm, though, and by pulling the starters at that juncture, they essentially have 27 days of rest between their two full games.

This has always been Polian's formula for success, although it's never really worked for him. The year they won the Super Bowl, Peyton Manning and the first team played every snap down the stretch, even with a playoffs spot locked up.

If it works, he's a savior. If it fails, he's a scapegoat.