Cultural Problems Seen in the NFL’s “Black Monday”

1/10/16

 (Full disclosure, if anyone reading this does not care about the NFL, football or even sports in general, there is still something for you in this week’s post!)

This past Monday, January 4’Th, was what is known around the National Football League as “Black Monday.”  Black Monday is the Monday after the regular season has ended and when many of the coaches around the league get fired, to put it simply.  As of today, there are six NFL teams without a head coach.  That is about 19% of the league.   Of those six vacant spots, five of them were firings and one was the retiring of Tom Coughlin, the historically old New York Giants coach. 

The two biggest firings in the NFL this season were the firings of the Philadelphia Eagle’s former head coach Chip Kelly and of Lovie Smith, who was coaching the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  Now I am FAR from an NFL GM or owner, but I am an NFL fan and there are two major problems with our culture that can be seen in the idea of "Black Monday." 

One: That we think we know better than other people. 

Two: that instant gratification has infected everyone. 

First: We Think We Know Better

I am going to start this part with a personal story.  So as I stated in my first post, my dream is to coach college basketball.  If there is one thing that is complained about most in the world of basketball is referees.  Even if someone has watched one minute of a basketball game in their whole life, they have probably heard someone complain about a referee.  I know I complain about them all the time. That changed a little bit when I had to referee a game at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes camp.  I SUCKED at it.  It was hard. I didn’t know what I was doing, but do you know who does know what they are doing? The actual referees at actual basketball games.  I think I know better than them, but I do not.

This is similar with NFL coaches.  Fans always think they know so much, but they’ve never had to make the decision on a 4’Th and 1 with 2:33 left during a three-point game in a stadium with 90,000 screaming people in it.  Being an NFL coach is HARD.  99% of human beings could not do it, but a lot think they can.  People always tell coaches how to do their jobs, but don’t actually know how to do 99% of that job.

You know whom else we try and tell how to do their job and have a 100% chance of being wrong on? God.  I am the number one victim of this mentality.  God is not a genie in a bottle granting wishes we have, he is the creator of everything we have done and we will do.  God’s will rarely looks like our will for our lives, but is much better.  We get angry at God when things don’t go our way.  In NFL terms, we get mad when we ask God for a “16-0” season of life and he gives us a “10-6.”  Trusting in God during a “2-14” season, or even an “0-16” season (Sorry Lions fans), is tough, but it is something we need to do, because it will be worth it.  John 16:33 is my favorite verse. It states, 

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.  In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world"

Earth is an “0-16” season, because of sin, but heaven is an eternal “16-0.”  We need to trust the Lord through all, and in all, circumstances and seasons of our life.

Second: Instant Gratification 

So I am a Millennial I will admit it.  I am in a sweater and beanie, sitting in a coffee shop while I write this.   I like Instagram more than I should and there are plenty of other Millennial stereotypes that I fit into. I will also admit that Millennials are the worst, but one thing we get constantly accused of is wanting everything to go our way right away…but isn't that everyone?  Doesn't everyone want things to be perfect?  Doesn't everyone want to wake up in the morning and have all their problems disappear?  All humans want instant gratification.

The Eagles and Buccaneers were not going to win the Super Bowl this year and they won’t win anyone anytime soon if they keep firing their coaches.  Chip Kelly and Lovie Smith both only coached two years for their respected franchises.  As I said earlier (and I know this is ironic based on the first part of this post), I am far from an NFL owner or GM and I do not know the full story with these two, but coaches need to create a system to win and that can’t happen when they get fired every two years.

You need to be able to deal with a little bad to get a little good in life. My favorite football team, the Green Bay Packers, could have fired Mike McCarthy after he missed the playoff in 2 of his first three seasons (Even though that one of three they did make the playoffs with a number two overall seed in the NFC during Brett Favre’s farewell from Green Bay season). If the Packers fired Mike McCarthy

after his first season in 2006, when they went 8-8 or in 2008 when they went 6-10, they probably would have never won the Super Bowl in 2010 or make the playoffs for seven seasons in a row.

We all go through rough patches and that is ok.  We learn most in the tough times.  If we never learned how to cope with difficulty, humanity would be in a terrible state.  More and more people are becoming less and less ok with hardship; in fact, we avoid it at all cost.  We want to take the easiest route to work.  We want to take a magic pill to lose weight.  We want to win 1.3 Billion dollars in a Powerball ticket.  We don't want to take the scenic route.  We don't want to work out for a half hour every day.  We don't want to work hard to make a living.  We do not want to suffer.  The scriptures say in Romans 5:1-4 that,

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”

Instant gratification is the polar opposite of glorying in our suffering.  NFL teams need to stick with coaches through bad seasons to be able to truly learn and grow as a franchise.  We need to stick with bad seasons of life to be able to truly grow as human beings and sons and daughters of Jesus Christ.

We always think we know what is best and we want the easy way, but that never works best for us.  Trusting in the Lord and accepting all circumstances is how we are to live our lives.  God knows better than we do and always will. We need to accept suffering and not hide from it. 



"Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out." - John Wooden