Silly Fans

Silly media too.

It sure is great that fans and the media don't make the important decisions, actually any decisions, for the teams that they follow and cover.

Every NFL team enters a season with the same goal. Coaches and players say as much every year. Win the division. It's the only thing that guarantees a playoff berth. The ultimate goal always starts with that first goal. Win the division and the Super Bowl is possible. It's as simple as that.

The Minnesota Vikings are currently the #5 seed in the NFC Playoff picture. Their final game is in Lambeau against the Green Bay Packers for the NFC North title. If the Vikings win that game they are the division champs and the #3 seed in the playoffs. They would achieve the goal that was set well before this season even started. It also brings about a first round home game against the Seattle Seahawks.

There's a lot of Vikings fans that don't want their team to host the Seahawks. That's based partly on the fact that the Seahawks have played in the last two Super Bowls, winning the first one. It's based mostly on the fact that the Seahawks took apart the Vikings in Minnesota just a few weeks ago, 38-7. It was a game that really wasn't that close. A lot of Vikings fans are scared of the Seahawks. They'd rather give up the division title and lose to the Packers on Sunday. That would put the Vikings on the road for the first round of the playoffs. Their destination would be dependent on how the scary Seahawks do against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday. If the Seahawks defeat the Cardinals the Vikings would travel, again, to Green Bay and a rematch with the Packers. If the Cardinals defeat the Seahawks the Vikings would travel to Washington and a first round playoff date with the Redskins.

Folks in the media have thrown out similar scenarios to manipulate playoff matchups. I've seen Packers beat writers pose the unthinkable and suggest that their team might be better off losing to the Vikings this Sunday. The biggest problem with these playoff manipulations involve competing in an NFL regular season game with less than maximum effort. Throwing a game is a better way of putting it. It's a good thing that the fans and the media that favor this chicken-shit football aren't making the actual decisions. I'd have to reconsider my loyalties if the team that I followed dodged certain opponents. A team has to beat the best if they want to be the best.

A division title means something. It also means a home playoff game. That's big. It's bigger than playing a supposed lesser team on the road. Every team that makes the playoffs is a threat. Even if that team doesn't show it on paper. There are playoff upsets every year. There are even upsets of the truly shocking variety on occasion. With the inconsistency that the Seahawks have played with this season I'm not so sure that a Vikings win over them in Minnesota would be considered much of an upset. That's not really the point here. The point here is the dodging of that game. Dodging a game by throwing another is a silly idea. The Packers have ruled the NFC North for what seems like forever. It would be pretty sweet to take that title from them in their own home.