- The Pro Bowl has been the butt of jokes for years now.
- The NFL’s All-Star game seems to become less competitive with each passing year.
- This idea featuring the league’s two worst teams would definitely be a better option.
The Pro Bowl — the National Football League’s version of an All-Star game — has been a disaster for years, if not decades. I truly can’t remember that last time I watched one. This year’s edition of the Pro Bowl was no better, as fans immediately took to social media to lambast the tackling, or lack thereof, in the game.
What makes the Pro Bowl conundrum so fascinating is that, despite the lack of effort, it’s difficult to really blame the participating players, as the reason behind them moving at half-speed is totally understandable. Professional football is a relentlessly violent game and the Pro Bowl is a meaningless exhibition: the players have much more to lose (potential injury) than they do to gain (winning Pro Bowlers make $80,000 while the losing players make $40,000).
Nevertheless, the Pro Bowl, despite all of its inherent flaws, carries on and seemingly becomes less and less competitive as the years go by. Perhaps worst of all, the NFL doesn’t seem all that intent on making any changes.
However, SHOULD they eventually decide to update the Pro Bowl and do something more consequential, this proposed plan would certainly be the way to go. While the idea has been kicking around for a few years, it achieved some renewed virality over the weekend with a tweet from USA Today write Doug Rush: instead of the Pro Bowl, have the two worst teams in the league play a game for the #1 pick in the draft.
You know what I'd watch instead of the Pro Bowl? Get the two worst teams in football to play the week before the Super Bowl. Winner gets the number 1 draft pick.
— Adam Crowley (@_adamcrowley) December 19, 2018
Instead of the Pro Bowl, take the two teams with the worst records in the league: the Jaguars and Lions.
Let them play one game to determine the #1 overall pick in the NFL Draft.
Figure that’d be a much more competitive game over the Pro Bowl. pic.twitter.com/FYAMdmR4Ut
— Doug Rush (@TheDougRush) February 6, 2022
While the game would obviously feature the worst of the league’s worst, what makes football entertaining isn’t necessarily talent (although that helps), but competition. This hypothetical matchup would be treated like a Bizarro World playoff game.