This is always a sad time for me when it comes to my sports watching addiction. It’s the end of football season which is by far my favorite sport to watch. Luckily, my second favorite is college basketball which is entering it’s most exciting part of the season. (The most sad time is when college basketball ends and baseball starts.)
With that said, this NFL season was probably the most exciting and fun season for me as a fan since two years ago when the Packers made the NFC Championship Game. And before that it was probably the most exciting since the Packers’ two Super Bowl runs in that late 1990’s. And I say this even though the Packers lost twice to Brett Favre and Vikings and were bounced in a most horrible way out of the playoffs.
What made this season so fun was the drama that built throughout. It of course all started with Brett Favre signing with the Vikings. Throw in the signing of Jay Cutler by the Bears and a lot of us fans of the NFC North were convinced that this was going to be a great three-team race. Many “experts” were picking the Bears, Vikings and Packers to all have good seasons.
So we sat back and watched the preseason. Cutler, Favre and Rodgers all impressed us. When the real season started, the Packers pulled out a close one against the Bears. Brett Favre had that spectacular game winning throw against San Francisco. Then of course there were the two Packer losses to the Vikings which of course were not easy to take but the drama surrounding those two games were very entertaining. Meanwhile, Jay Cutler’s fast start was quickly fading as the interceptions began to mount.
It appeared that the Vikings were going to run away with the division after the Packers and Bears scuffled through the first half of the season. But the second half of the season had it’s own set of story lines. After Aaron Rodgers endured a terrible first eight games in the department of being sacked at a near record pace, he began getting more protection and started unloading the ball in a more timely fashion and racked up numbers that put him in the MVP race. The Packers also put together a winning streak that included great wins over Dallas and Baltimore and solidified a place in the playoffs. The defense was ranked number one in the league thanks to great play by Clay Matthews and a revival from the eventual defensive player of the year Charles Woodson.
Meanwhile, the Vikings stumbled in losses to Arizona and Carolina. And Brett Favre and Brad Childress had a major run in when it came to play calling and audibles at the line. The division could have been on the line had it not been for a game-ending touchdown by Pittsburgh over the Packers in December in one of the best 4th quarters I have ever watched. The Vikings then engaged in a very entertaining Monday night game against the Bears who had slid completely off the table during the middle of the season. The Bears won in overtime after a furious Viking comeback in the second half jeopardizing the Vikings shot at a first round bye.
When all was said and done, the Vikings won the division and earned a bye after throttling New York the final week of the season. And the Packers easily took the first wildcard slot after convincing wins over Seattle and Arizona.
The ending of the story did not disappoint from a drama standpoint although fans of both teams were left in complete disappointment in the final games. The Packers spotted Arizona leads of 17-0 and 31-10 before mounting a comeback to tie the game at 45 at the end of regulation. Aaron Rodgers who would eventually start the ProBowl for the NFC missed a wide open Greg Jennings on the first play of overtime that would have won the game. Two plays later he lost the ball and the Cardinals won the game 51-45. Heartbreak.
The Vikings matched that disappointment and then some after a convincing defeat of Dallas in the Divisional round, they overcame a turnover infested performance against New Orleans to put them in position to win the game. But a 12-players in a huddle mistake by Childress and then an interception by Brett Favre cost them that opportunity. And New Orleans went on to win an overtime. The irony of Favre not only repeating history by making a bone headed play in a playoff game is amazing. But throw in how his last throw as a Viking could have the same disastrous result as his last throw as a Packer could not have even been written in Hollywood.
So here we are at the end of the season awaiting the 2010 NFL season much like a movie that begs for a sequel. And fortunately, that is what we are going to get.
Eric Songer
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