I know that every year fans of thirty one out of thirty two teams are disappointed. Chiefs haven't won a playoff game... Falcons are always one and done... This, that. My fellow Eagles fans got tired of Andy Reid because he just couldn't win the big one so five NFC championship game appearances in a decade wasn't good enough.

Here's my perspective. In my first decade of being a football fan the Eagles averaged four wins a season. They had one season where they hit .500, going 7-7. Generally they were out of the playoff race with about six games to play. In the next two decades they were much better, making the playoffs nine times out of twenty and losing in the super bowl once.

That covers my first thirty years as an Eagles fan. Then came Andy Reid and now Eagles fans think two years in a row without making the playoffs is the end of the world. They're young enough to have missed out on that ten years without a winning season, or too old to remember it.

Actually, I forgot the native georgians in my city(I don't live in the ATL area) are extremely anti Falcons because of their "one and done" thing. But they forget the 1998 team and the "one and done" era is better than.. never going, like how it was in the early 90s.

Man if there is any reason for me to fly again, it'd be to a Super Bowl with my home team in it.

So very true. I have been a Packers fan for nearly 40 years (since the mid 70's). I missed the glory years of Lombardi and suffered through over a couple decades of poor to mediocre years (Bart Starr and Forest Gregg among others coaching) before Holmgren got them another Super Bowl win. Now, we have over a decade of success (minus that one 3-13 season) but I will always love them

The NFL is not as "dynasty driven" anymore (New England being the closest now), but very cyclic.

The Team of the 60's: Green Bay.

The Team of the 70's: Pittsburgh.

The Team of the 80's: San Fransisco, New York Giants, and possibly Washington.

The Team of the 90's: Dallas, and possibly Green Bay and Denver.

The Team of the 00's: New England.

The team of the 10's: ??

This is how I see the playoffs going the first weekend.

Packers Will Win

Could go either Way Chiefs/Colts

Bengals will win

Could go either Way. Philly could win if they play some Good D and play what they can do on the Offense side

Chiefs

Bengals

Eagles

49ers

It's gonna be some kind of disgusting cold in Green Bay so lets hope the 49ers bring their long pants. So I have GB winning unless San Fran doesn't get bothered by the bitter cold.

And by bitter cold I mean highs only in the 2-3 degree range at kickoff and wind chills in the -10 to -20 range. No fun lol.

Too bad they had to meet up with Mr. Elway on his Revenge Tour. There was no way that he was going to let his ex coach win. To say that there was a bit of bad blood between Elway and Reeves is an understatement.

I don't know their history, or even why he left. Dan Reeves left the NFL and then disappeared like a ghost.

Elway started his career mad at everybody. The messy business of the draft left some bitterness that he just had to spew, and Reeves was handy.

Then, like many quarterbacks the NFL was his first taste of losing and he didn't handle it well. As coach, Reeves was the obvious one for him to blame for that too. Same dynamic you see now with RG3. His high school team was basically average, but dominated because he was on it. His college team was basically average, but dominated because he was on it. When he went to play for a basically average NFL team he fully expected to dominate, and without someone to blame he would have to confront the fact that in the NFL he's just ordinary. That can take a few years to deal with.

What I think some players forget (or even really fully realized the implications of the fact beforehand) is that the NFL is filled with almost all the top talent that players have ever seen. That one other guy on your high school team that was really good? Now you have a whole team filled with those guys, many on special teams. Those few All-Americans and All-Conference players you had on your college team? Most NFL teams have a lot of them on their roster and as starters.

It's not that their ordinary, it's just that they are ordinary compared to the talent that surrounds them every Sunday, which is superbly extradordinary talent like themselves from previous tiers of football.

No doubt. If a high school team has one player living up to the potential of going on to reach the NFL, even as a special teamer, that team is going to do amazing things at the high school level. If they have a quarterback who has the potential to be an NFL starter they are going to be the stuff of legend. I know a guy who played high school football against DeSean Jackson. It was basically pointless. No one could catch him. No one could tackle him. If he got the ball the opposing defense might as well just head for the sidelines.

I think what a lot of fans don't get is the effect that past has on the players. They don't arrive at the NFL with delusions about being the greatest player in the league, but they just have no direct experience of losing. Maybe they lost in a state championship game. Maybe they suffered a big loss in a bowl game. Maybe they even lost a game now and then against a major rival, or a dominant team in their conference, and didn't even get to the biggest bowl games. But very seldom does an NFL player show up after playing for a doormat, so when a Cam Newton or an RG3 or a Matt Stafford finds himself facing press conferences after losing week in week out on a 4-12 team he has no preparation for dealing with it. Some of them can't deal with it...ever. They just spin off into failure despite their talent.

Gametimes and networks carrying them

Saturday:

Chiefs @ Colts 4:35 Eastern time Zone NBC

Saints @ Eagles 8:10 Eastern time Zone NBC

Sunday:

Chargers @ Bengals 1:05 Eastern time zone CBS

49ers @ Packers 4:40 Eastern Time Zone FOX

The time has come to officially concede. Those who took 'five and under' in the coaches firing pool, congratulations and $$$ to you.

In the grand tradition of fired coaches, I will place the blame for my loss firmly elsewhere...in this case on the lack of quality prospects. The Titans, who I was counting on to pull out the win for me, apparently noted that the Lions were offering a much better job than they could and the Redskins would be paying much more than they will, so they weren't going to get their pick of the slim pickings anyway and probably wouldn't do any better than Munchak. This sort of rational behavior is a new development among NFL owners that I will have to consider in my future wagering.

Ah well. On to today's big event, and the warm-up bout in Indianapolis.

EDIT:

LOL...apparently I conceded too soon. Trying to appear rational was a feint to give the teams with a better job to offer or more money a little head start. Apparently the Titans just wanted to add the extra handicap of getting a later start. This way when they hire a bum they'll have the extra excuse.

Yep, you called it. I didn't bet but you called it. Then again, technically you already had it with Kubiak unless you just meant post/off season firings.

I said at the time that I wasn't counting Kubiak. I still thought six was a sure thing and expected it by Monday afternoon. The restraint being shown is an unexpected development. Dallas and Oakland don't fire their coaches? In the same year? What's this world coming to?

#FlyEaglesFly #FlyOn

Is there a legal way to watch football games online? I can't watch the chiefs game on TV. I suppose I could listen to the radio but still, I'd rather watch it.

http://www.nfl.com/promotions/sub-products/watch-online_wc

Oh

Cheifs are doing amazingly well so far. Maybe we can finally win a playoff game.

Chiefs are on the verge of an epic meltdown.

That's what happens when you lose four of your starters to injury. Especially if they're key players like most of them.

Up 38-10 lol. This is a no excuse league.

Now that was probably an epic comeback on the Colts part. I was kinda hoping KC would win because they had a great comeback season. But losing 4 of their starters to injury really did them.

That was a good game. I only caught the 4th quarter but it was very back and forth.