PITTSBURGH — The NFL’s dirty little secret is out.
The league that prides itself on every team having a chance to win the Super Bowl every year has no more parity than frequently criticized MLB with its perceived big-market, small-market disparities.
The whistleblower?
New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton.
“I say this in all seriousness. There’s only about 10 or 11 relevant teams (on a year-to-year basis),” he said.
Payton, making his candid observation during the NFL’s Draft-A-Thon weekend late last month, is absolutely right, no matter what Roger Goodell wants you to think. And they often are the same 10 or 11 relevant teams.
In the past 20 years, 20 of the NFL’s 32 teams played in a Super Bowl and 12 won at least one. That’s decent parity, right? But it’s no better than what baseball had during the same time. Twenty of its 30 teams played in a World Series and 13 won at least one world championship.
The Belichick-Brady New England Patriots dominated the NFL during that time, going to nine Super Bowls and winning six. Only three other teams won multiple titles, including the Steelers with a pair. A fun factoid: The Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans have never been to a Super Bowl. How pathetic is that?
Baseball has been just as balanced in the past 20 years, maybe a bit more so. The Boston Red Sox won four World Series and the San Francisco Giants three. You get what you pay for, right? Well, not always. The big-spending New York Yankees won two championships in the past two decades, but they haven’t won one or even played in the Series since 2009. And the big-spending Los Angeles Dodgers? No titles. Heck, the Kansas City Royals won it all in 2015.
I’m guessing you don’t want to hear that baseball really isn’t all that broken when it comes to competitive balance. That is understandable. You live in a town where the baseball team hardly ever competes. The Pirates made three playoff appearances — all as a wild card — in the past 27 years and had 23 losing seasons. They haven’t been to a World Series since they beat the Baltimore Orioles to win the championship in 1979.
Blame the system all you want.
I’m blaming Pirates ownership and management.
The NFL also has its share of horribly run teams. Start with the Cleveland Browns, who haven’t been to the playoffs since 2000. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers haven’t made it since 2007, the New York Jets since 2010. The Oakland Raiders qualified one time in the past 19 years. The Buffalo Bills made it to the playoffs just twice in the past 20 seasons, although they did get in last season and in 2017.
Every team has a chance to win it all?
I’m guessing you won’t be able to convince the fans in those cities.
The Steelers’ failure to make the playoffs in each of the past two seasons doesn’t seem so bad in that context.
OK, maybe not.
The big question: Will the Steelers be one of the 10 or 11 relevant teams in the 2020 season?
It hardly is a lock if you believe the alleged experts’ post-draft power rankings. ESPN, Sports Illustrated and CBS Sports have the Steelers ranked 14th, which might be good enough to get them into the playoffs because the NFL is adding an extra wild card team in each conference. Only Sporting News is giving the Steelers a little love with a No. 8 ranking.
It’s a good thing for Mike Tomlin and his guys that they play the games on the field, not on paper.
Just about everybody’s power ranking has the Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore Ravens, San Francisco 49ers and Payton’s Saints as the top four teams. The Buccaneers have climbed into most Top 10s, with Sporting News giving them a No. 4 ranking. They have gone from one of Payton’s 20 irrelevant teams to one of his 10 to be respected.
Just call it the Tom Brady factor.
“When someone like Tom comes there, it’s not just the quarterback position,” Payton said. “The thing as a coach in the division that concerns you is, you know, just the standard’s going to change. I think that’s a credit to the really, really, really special players.”
Have you noticed Bill Belichick’s Patriots haven’t been mentioned yet? Most of the power rankings have them somewhere around 15th. They won the AFC East division 16 times in the past 17 seasons with Brady becoming the greatest quarterback of all time.
Wouldn’t it be great if the Patriots take a hard fall?
The league really does need a little more parity.
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