The Pro Bowl's Rise to Mediocrity

    The Pro Bowl got a nose job this season, with Dion Saunders and Jerry Rice picking teams. But what the Pro Bowl really needs is a Joan Rivers face lift. It's boring, and the only reason it's relevant is because the standout players get celebrated. With no defense, top players dropping out, and what a lot of players might consider chump change as pay, there has to be a way to fix it and led raw back the fans. There is an idea worth looking into, let's go deep. 

   Taking two hall of famers and letting them pick teams is a creative, out of the box idea. But it needs more, and less. For example, less offense. Oh yes, less offense and more defense. You can't blame these guys for not wanting to tackle in a game that may win them $50,000 or $25,000 depending if they win or lose. Especially when they're already possibly making millions in one season. What if they tear something in a knee, or shoulder? It's not worth losing possibly millions on a contract later because of a past injury in a meaningless game. For that reason some big names aren't even in attendance. Look at the 49ers this season, 7 of the 8 pro bowlers decided not to attend. Granted two players skipped the game because of injuries, but the rest wanted to rest and pretty much not deal with it. 

   So here is a solution. Make the Pro Bowl an oversized flag game, tweak the rules some but keep the game the same. Everyone wears helmets but no pads. The game would be played like an NFL game with flags but no tackling. This would reduce the chance of injuries, players would play fast, have fun, and could possibly make the game watchable. Is this a perfect solution? No, but it would put a spin on the game that might make a causal fan turn it on again. 

   Let's turn the most boring, high scoring game of the NFL season into something watchable. Is it relevant? No, unless there was a perk, such as allowing the winning division to get the coin flip at the Sper Bowl. But even then, it's irrelevant to most of the players because the players that make it into the Super Bowl usually don't play in the Pro Bowl. So let's make it fun with big plays on both sides of the ball. And what does it hurt, can it get any worse?