Pro and College Football, Week Whatever

I've never been one to bitch about one bad call ruining a game. Bad calls happen. A lot. And if you're a real football team, you need to be able to compensate for them. My philosophy on a blown call is that if that one call would have been the difference between your team winning and losing, then you didn't deserve to win in the first place.

And yes, yes, I know there's no such thing as 'deserving' a win. There's very few things in life that people 'deserve'. (Unless you're Al Davis, in which case you do indeed deserve something, which is to have your little goblin nuts torn off in a blender. Seriously, who treats their subordinates like that? I'm surprised Lane Kiffin didn't just dribble that little bastard like a basketball.)

But if you're in a close enough game that a bad call makes the difference, then you can't bitch about that call, because any one little thing could happen at any time that changes the complexion of the game. (See "Bartman, Steve".)

That's the main reason I'm not whining about the Illini loss to Minnesota this weekend. There were some seriously awful calls during the game, including at least one touchdown that should have counted -- you can't tell me that ball didn't cross the plane of the goal. Would that have changed the flow of the game? Probably.

But overall, the Illini just didn't play well enough to win, especially against an inferior Minnesota team against whom they had, what, a twelve-point spread? The play this weekend was typical of the streaky Illini of the last few years. They don't play consistently well or consistently badly. That, at least, would let a fan like myself establish a position -- I'd know what to expect from them and can adjust my fandom accordingly. But when it's this roller-coaster up and down and up and down, the sudden altitude changes just make me urpy.

Similar thoughts are rolling through my head about the Bears game yesterday, too -- although that was less decided on bad calls than it was by poor play. I give the offense a middling grade at best - their first half was poor but that was made up by a fantastic second half, and Orton gets all the credit in the world for that last drive. He and Rashied Davis really came together, and Davis showed for the first time that he's really got potential to match his mouth. But the secondary still needs work. We stuffed the run exceptionally well but when it counted, at the last play when you knew GODDAMNED WELL IT WAS GOING TO BE A LONG PASS, MIKE BROWN, they fell apart. No cornerback coverage, Mike Brown letting the receiver get to the sideline... Much like my comments about officiating earlier, one bad play shouldn't get all the blame for winning or losing a game, but in this situation, when it's critical, you gotta remember the right things and play the right way, otherwise you'll never ever be the best.