Just Right

Do you want to hear a joke? OK, here it goes...
"18-1." Thats it. That is the whole joke. And need I say more. Just the punch line. And despite my unusual brevity, everyone reading this blog knows the rest. You can fill in the blanks with whatever type of set up you want, but the end is all the same. Amazing huh? I think it is. In this NFL season, marked forever by an overconfident, cheating team like the New England Patriots running roughshod over the competition for 18 straight games, and then showing their Super Bowl opponents such little respect, we will always remember the fact that this team that tried to copyright "19-0" instead left the '72 Dolphins still as the league's only perfect team.

In fact, to make matters worse, instead of all of the conversations about whether the Pats were the greatest team ever, we are now left with the idea that they will not even go down in history as the second best, or even third best team ever. Why? Because as one of three teams to complete 19 games with an 18-1 record, they are they only one of them to not become the Super Bowl champs. Back in 1985, the Chicago Bears, dominated their way through the NFL. They finished the regular season 15-1, with their only slip-up coming in a storied Monday night match-up against who... you guessed it, the Miami Dolphins. And after this loss, which in retrospect is nothing more than a blip on their season, the Bears destroyed the opposition in the playoffs, and capped off the most dominating Super Bowl of all time over... surprise... the New England Patriots (anyone who claims Hollywood writes the most cheesy stories has obviously never watched the NFL). Mike Singletary, Walter Payton, Dan Hampton, Richard Dent, Gene McMichael, Wilbur Marshall, Mike Ditka, and Buddy Ryan marched the Bears to an 18-1 record. Sure the Bears recorded the Super Bowl shuffle, but they backed it up by taking home the hardware.

The year before, in 1984 it was the San Francisco 49ers who accomplished the feat. Like the Bears, the 9ers were truly dominating, and from the start of the season to the Super Bowl, there was really no doubt as to whom the best team in football was. Men like Joe Montana, Wendell Tyler, Roger Craig, Dwight Clark, Ronnie Lott, and Jim Stuckey made a coaching staff including future Head Coaches George Seifert, Ray Rhodes, and Mike Shannahan, and the legend Bill Walsh, look brilliant. Except for their 3 point loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers during week 7, this was the best team in football all year long. Just ask the team who they demolished in the Super Bowl... of course, the Miami Dolphins.

And now, for all history, the New England Patriots, who somehow managed to put Spygate I behind them and roll all year, including some late season close calls against the Ravens, the Eagles, and then the Giants, managed to flop on the biggest stage of them all. Maybe it was the birth of Spygate II that distracted them. Maybe it was mighty Tom's foot. Then again, maybe it was just the universe setting things back to the natural order. Not since the Yankess lost a 3-0 lead to the Red Sox, has a choke job like this been seen.

Congrats to the Giants, for doing the impossible, but the very necessary. And congrats to the Pats, for becoming a footnote to history... 18-1, ha ha.