What is worse this season, the officiating or the quarterbacking?

The quarterbacking at least has a real reason -- injuries leading to back-ups starting an unusually high number of games.

The refs have no such excuse -- they've been blowing games every week. It's not totally on them in a lot of cases -- the system is broken and the NFL doesn't want to do anything to fix it.

Since I'm a weirdo, I decided to look and see what history would have looked like if the outcome of every Super Bowl had been reversed --

5 Championships

Broncos - SB 12, 21, 22, 24, 48
Patriots - SB 20, 31, 42, 46, 52

4 Championships

Vikings - SB 4, 8, 9, 11
Bills - SB 25, 26, 27, 28

3 Championships

Cowboys - SB 5, 10, 13
Dolphins - SB 6, 17, 19
Rams - SB 14, 36, 53
Eagles - SB 15, 39, 57
Bengals - SB 16, 23, 56

2 Championships

Chiefs - SB 1, 55
Raiders - SB 2, 37
Colts - SB 3, 44
Washington - SB 7, 18
Steelers - SB 30, 45
Falcons - SB 33, 51
Panthers - SB 38, 50
Seahawks - SB 40, 49
Niners - SB 47, 54

1 Championship

Chargers - SB 29
Packers - SB 32
Titans - SB 34
Giants - SB 35
Bears - SB 41
Cardinals - SB 43

I like this world where the Bengals have more championships than the Steelers.

I was struck by the Colts still having two, one with Unitas and one with Peyton.

That Vikings total stands out like a painful, painful thumb.

When the league has literally been in business for over 100 years, and after 100 years says that the officiating is "a work in progress," it's probably pretty reasonable to think that they aren't getting the problem fixed any time soon.

It is also weird that Super Bowls are counted as separate from World Championships (lol, "world"). Does any other sport do this?

By counting the pre-SB titles, you've got "poverty" franchises up there with a substantial numbers of RINGZ like the Lions and Browns.

Most World Championships

Green Bay Packers, 13
Chicago Bears, 9
New York Giants, 8
New England Patriots, 6
Pittsburgh Steelers, 6
Dallas Cowboys, 5
San Francisco 49ers, 5
Washington Football Team, 5
Cleveland Browns, 4
Detroit Lions, 4
Indianapolis/Baltimore Colts, 4
Philadelphia Eagles, 4

Looking this up on Google, I found this interesting observation --

"I think if someone wants to argue that 'the league is totally different now' than the real point of reference isn't 1970, it's 1994 when the salary cap was introduced. The salary cap has initiated an era of unprecedented parity and leveled the playing field between all the franchises, so any achievements after are significantly more impressive."

You could do that with any number of rule changes throughout the NFL's history though, and say "the sport is fundamentally different because of ..." the legendary 70s hitting defenses for example, or the 5 yard rule for DB's, or even the Air Coryell attack, or Walsh's West Coast offense. As long as everyone is responsible for playing teams subject to the same rules, their achievements are just as impressive.

Now, if you want to have a debate about how, say, the Greatest Show on Turf would fare against the Steel Curtain, that would need some significant discussion about under who's rules.

But that's true in almost all sports:
- Russell's Celtics, Jordan's Bulls, and Curry's Warriors almost play 3 different games, even without the modern skill evolution of the players. Moments that were play on then are multi-game suspension now. The 3 point line was a radical altering.
- I often wonder how the 90s Oilers would fare against a modern defensive minded team with the way the game and players have changed, and the NHL has 5 times the teams it did in 1968. The elimination of the QMJHL priority for the Canadiens and the opening of Europe to the draft were also pretty big before and after moments for hockey
- Of the big 4, I think baseball is the closest to the same rules, with only really the DH, the addition of playoff rounds and modern medicine / science making the difference in the way the game is played. But god, what a difference. Comparing eras, I think the 27 Yankees would have been in tough against the modern Houston Astros dynasty,

Come to think of it - similar to the debates around the start of the Bronze Age of comics - you would do a lot worse than looking at some time between 1968 and 1970 with all the changes that came to all 4 sports, and say " this game is now different"

This is the football thread, but letting people of color participate was probably the most significant rule change in baseball.

Only if they trained like it was 1927.

Offensively, they were way ahead of everyone else. Nobody within 100 runs of them. Led the league in home runs - Ruth alone had more home runs than all but three MLB teams (five if you include the Negro Leagues).

Regular Season's over, and there's no movement in ye olde football thread...

Non playoff observations...
the Panthers GM getting fired for not taking Stroud and ending up trading the number 1 pick for the guy who isn't Stroud? yeah, g'bye
I'm sure Derrick Henry enjoyed punking the Jags out of the playoffs. Costing Vrabel his job maybe not so much
Bellichick is done in New England. Don't care if he's under contract. He won't be back
the Raiders season is over without much hope. I expect they'll not hire their interim coach, and the misery will continue

My playoff commentary
I see 2 games that will be really competitive, highly exciting and a joy to watch
I see 2 games that will be highly competitive, and a grind to sit through
I see 2 games that should be blowouts, but involve QBs that are capability of literally throwing the game away

The good
Game of the weekend - Texans / Browns. I expect Cleveland to win in a star making shootout (!)
The Stafford Bowl - Rams / Lions. This is going to be a great back and forth game; I think Detroit will win, but the game most likely to be an upset

The Bad
Star Crossed Love? - Cowboys / Packers - should see Dallas blow the doors off Green Bay, but if Green Bay strikes first, Dak could throw this away
Power Failure - Bills / Steelers - this was going to be my upset special, but TJ Watt is out for the game, so Buffalo should win handily

The Ugly
Sigh, Eagles, Sigh - Buccaneers / Eagles Don't know what the hell happened, but at this point, the Eagles are one and done, even against the mediocre Bucs
Captain Highliner wins - Chiefs / Dolphins in sub zero weather, no less. Fish freeze on the road, but it's not a pretty game.

cleveland - houston - go browns, the city needs it.

rams - lions - should be one of the good games, winner by 3, either way

cowboys - packers - should be a blowout, the cowboys are a much much better overall football team, boys by 10+

bills - steelers - i'm a browns fan, rooting for buffalo and buffalo should beat them pretty bad....bills by 10+

chiefs - dolphins - mahomey is the best, but tua isn't bad, but its going to be cold in KC - chieifs by a touchdown

eagles - bucs - i love baker mayfield, and its basically all on him, he plays good against a down and out eagles team chock full of negativity and bad juju. bucs by a field goal

The NFL is catching a lot of heat for selling 2 playoff games to Peacock this weekend. People are rightly pissed because you have to sign up for a subscription to watch. At least, that's what I read.

It's one thing to sell off Thursday night football to Amazon. It's just one game a week, plus you get Prime deals on top of it.

Not a popular opinion, but I think people complain too much.
You can subscribe cheaper than a drink at a sports bar.

i thought only one game (sat night) was on peacock.

i do believe that it won't be very long before every pro sport will pay-to-watch on an exclusive network....i could see the NFL going 100% to the NFL network, and then making one pay to subscribe or you don't watch it at all.

or....pay per view per game.

The Saturday afternoon game is on NBC, Peacock, and Telemundo. The Saturday night game is only on Peacock, as you said.

In the Super Bowl, it would be fun to see Lions-Texans or Lions-Browns since none of those teams have been to the Super Bowl, even though the Browns and Lions have four NFL Championships each.

Or you could go old school and get Steelers-Packers.

how long before the super bowl is pay-per-view?

I agree. You have to pay $60-$100 to watch a title fight for boxing, $5 for a streaming service is nothing. They forced people to buy cable to watch Monday Night Football and that's quite a bit more.

Not sure about Peacock but many services offer a trial for free anyway, so it's possible you could pay nothing for one weekend of one game viewing. If it becomes more widespread, then you may pay for the months of the NFL season, then cancel. It all sucks when it used to be free, but it's not terribly expensive, like Sunday Ticket is (and you don't even get your in-market game there).

Unless you're getting the games with an antenna, the reality is you're already paying to watch the games. The difference is who's taking your money.