What watching the NFL has taught me about defense

The cliche's are well known.

The best offense is a strong defense.

Defense wins championships.

It might be purely coincidental, or it may be because the Seahawks won the most recent Super Bowl while sporting a pretty wicked defense, but I have been hearing the latter cliche' in seemingly record amounts lately.  

So it's got me wondering, does defense really win championships? Will an especially resilient defense make up for a deplorable offense?

Certainly there are examples of teams with a defensive focus making the Super Bowl, even a few of them winning it. As a Bears fan my mind immediately goes to the 1985 Bears, who fielded one of the top defensive units of all time, and the 2001 Ravens. The 1985 Bears also fielded the 2nd highest scoring offense in the league that season, while the 2001 Ravens were led by Trent Dilfer at QB (ouch) and their offense was fairly mediocre.

The Super Bowl XLVIII champion Seattle Seahawks team from last season fielded the NFL's toughest defense. Nicknamed the "Legion of Boom", the Hawks made a strong statement in the Super Bowl, nearly shutting out Peyton Manning and the electric Broncos offense and allowing just one score in the blowout win.Offensively, the Seahawks fielded an offense in the lower half of the league in terms of total performance.

So what is the trend? What is the big takeaway here?

I think the cliche has some truth to it. Defense will, more often than not, put a team in a position to win a championship. However I think when considering super bowl winners from the past two decades, it becomes apparent that neglecting the offense to stack the defense will decrease a teams chances to win a championship. Even moreso in today's NFL than the older era, defense is becoming much harder to play well. New rules prohibit many things that were previously considered normal on the football field, so while the "Legion of Boom" were able to defy that truth and win the Super Bowl, their ability to repeat such a feat is questionable.

I don't believe that the cliche "defense wins championships" holds much weight in today's NFL. With the rules being the way they are, and punishing hard hits and plays that have always been legal, we have seen points per game increase, as defenses find it harder to make the plays they are expected to. In today's NFL, the best way to win seems to either have a great defense mirrored by a good offense, or a great offense that can score on every possession to outpace the other team.

But if I were to pick one reason, my biggest reason for not believing the formula that the top defensive teams win the championships, it would be this. If the formula were to hold true, then the team that has led the NFL this season in total defense would be the most likely candidate to win the Super Bowl, and that team is none other than....




THE DETROIT LIONS.

 

 

 

Meow?

I'm telling you people, that isn't gonna happen, and if it does, I'll eat my sock*.





*The Committed Fan reserves the right to cut the sock into smaller pieces in the event that consumption is called for...

Forgiving the cursed Cub fan

I am, somewhat unfortunately, a Cubs fan.

I didn't consciously choose this, it was chosen for me.

Interestingly enough, while some people treat sports like a religion, in some ways, it is very similar. How many people in the world made a well informed decision, considering all available options at the tender time of youth, on what particular religion they would follow? For most people, myself included, the religion you likely followed (if you grew up in a religious household) was whatever your parents or grandparents believed.

Very often we use the same criteria when choosing a sports team to follow. A close second behind the geographical area you live in, the sports team of a parental or other family figure often becomes the go-to team to cheer for. Occasionally this leaves you with cheering for a team from a struggling, once proud auto capitol in MI, but hey, we all make bad decisions sometimes....

For me, I started my journey as a Cubs fan on my 8th birthday, when my parents took me to Wrigley Field for the first time. I couldn't tell you who played on either team at the time, couldn't tell you if the Cubs won or lost (lets be honest, they probably lost) but it was a start. I had my jersey on, and I had my glove, in case a fly ball came near us.

I like to think if I could do it all over, if I had a blank slate and could choose a new team,  I'd probably still pick the Cubs. I love Chicago, it's a very cool place and Wrigley field is simply overflowing with the atmosphere of an old school baseball stadium.

The reason I'm taking you all back on the Nostalgia Express (seriously, who thought this was a good idea?) is because today is the anniversary of the day every Cubs fan should know. They'll know it, because they hate it. They'll know it, because the most recent chance they had at ending the 106 year streak without a World Series ended 11 years ago today, when the infamous Bartman incident occured.

Steve Bartman was a Cubs fan who came to watch the Cubs (presumably) finish out the 2003 National League Championship Series against the Florida Marlins at Wrigley Field. The Cubs were just a few outs shy of clinching the 6th game by a 3-0 score, propelling them into the World Series. A foul ball, hit by Marlins second baseman Luis Castillo, flew out to Bartman's section, and being in the general area of where it would land, he made an attempt to grab it and....

...interfered with Cubs outfielder Moises Alou, who had a chance, some would say very good chance at catching the ball and registering the out. Instead, Castillo continued his at bat and walked, the Marlins mounted an improbable rally and ended up scoring 8 runs to steal the game away from the shocked Cubs. The Marlins rallied again to take the series from the Cubs the following night, and went on to beat the Yankees in the World Series.

The man himself. Only crime I see is that turtleneck, am I right?

Bartman's name has become the curse of many a Chicago sports bar, im sure, and the public backlash facing him after the game was very real, and very chaotic. And while I'm not pleased with how the game ended, I think it's a bit of a stretch to blame him for the whole debacle and not winning the World Series that year. I don't wish any harm on old Stevie, and I hope everyone else has forgiven him by now as well, because Steve Bartman is really only guilty of doing what I did on my 8th birthday for my first time at Wrigley. Taking a seat, watching the game, and hoping for the off chance that a foul ball comes to me.