Typical NFL Season

It was another typical NFL season. The teams that always win won and the teams that always lose lost. Seven of the twelve teams in the playoffs this year were in the playoffs last year. After missing the playoffs in 2009, the Pittsburgh Steelers returned to their normal place in the post season. Peyton Manning and Tom Brady led their teams to division titles. The schizophrenic Cincinnati Bengals went from first to worst in their division. Tampa Bay won 7 more games in 2010 than they won in 2009 but still failed to make the playoffs. The Miami Dolphins went 7 and 9 as they did in 2009 and kept their coach. The Cleveland Browns were 5 and 11 as they were in 2009 and fired their coach. Despite improving from 5 and 11 to 8 and 8, Oakland fired their head coach. The annual merry-go-round of coaches continued in 2010 as it does every year. Some coaches are fired for good reason and some for bad. Media pressure and not getting along with the owner always causes some good coaches to lose their jobs. This year, as every year, some coaches who were very good at their previous positions,proved to be inept as head coaches. It seems that teams like the Pittsburgh Steelers, Green Bay Packers, Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots are in the playoffs every year. In reality, there is more parity in the NFL than in the NBA or MLB. In baseball the teams with deep pockets like the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox are able to purchase the best players through free agency. This leaves the small market teams at a distinct disadvantage. In basketball there are only five players per team on the floor at one time. For this reason one outstanding player such as Michael Jordan or Lebron James can make a huge difference in the performance of their team. Football has 11 players on offense and 11 on defense. This makes it much more difficult for one player to greatly influence a team. A typical NFL season has many of the same teams winning, a few failing miserably and a couple of teams surprising almost everyone with a quick turnaround from the previous year.