This is where it gets interesting. The NFL found out over the years that when you move a team, it must win in order to get a foothold in the area and make money. The Cardinals are a true outlier and I’ve said that in the past. Now, let yourself get lost in the data. Don’t get too caught up in the minutia.
Rams - Had recently made the move from LA to St. Louis and suddenly they win the Super Bowl, something they’d never done in the history of the franchise. They had a good run for a handful of years, then came back down to earth. They move back to LA. Magically, they are back in the Super Bowl again a few years later. And as we all know, it took one of the worst non-calls in NFL history to get them there.
Titans - A team that had never even been to a Super Bowl, much less won one. They move from Houston to Tennessee, and shortly after the move they are playing in a Super Bowl. In fact the year they went to the Super Bowl was literally the year they officially changed their name from the Oilers to the Titans.
This just sucked the life out of the Lions organization and fans. A huge snowball effect which imo led to the organization to start planning for 2020. Rest the injured, evaluate younger players, and other teams PS players and free agents. Get a jump start on next season.
Oh I think you nailed the conspiracy just fine. Think about it…after 9/11 the entire country was being encouraged to be patriotic. The network news was filling the Airways with the successes of the Patriot missiles Etc. back in the Gulf War prior to 9/11. How interesting and convenient that the Patriots won their first championship as huge underdogs. What better team for national pride that year?
Later of course as I recall it was rumored that they were taping the Rams practices secretly
Fans blaming the refs.
Fans blaming the Diggs trade.
Fans claiming they are done with this team when they damn well know they will be back again next year.
Fans like me who did all these things.
The Packer game 100%
Even this weekend if they could muster up enough effort to play spoiler to Packers home field through out., it would cost dearly in draft position.
So we couldn’t even fully enjoy that.
NFL declared GB class of the NFC about week 2.
San Fran will probably get jobbed this weekend.
If we messed up the Packers league manufactured home field advantage…I would 100% enjoy that. If we need 1 kid in the top 2 or so picks of the draft to come in here and save the entire franchise…we need to suck and fire everyone anyways.
It would be a little less brutal if we were winning before the 9 game losing streak. We weren’t. So what’s even more brutal than a 9 game losing streak, is losing 12 out of 13 of the last games. We won a game on September 22nd. Between that win on September 22nd and the end of the season on December 29th…we won ONE single game.
Personally I hated every minute of it, but I’m sure some “give up on the season and tank the rest of the way” fans were popping champagne bottles every week. Well, they got what they wanted. I will go ahead and book my 2020 playoff tickets now.
