How the NFL works...

[The Goat]

Been wanting to start this thread for a coon's age, partly to explain my harshness toward the current regime and because the article linked below is a great read. It's a few years old, but holds true as ever today.

American sports: In a league of its own | The Economist

The whole idea within/behind the NFL's structure is parity. The strict salary cap, draft scheme and profit sharing all strongly promote parity among the franchises toward maximizing competitiveness between the rosters that take the field every game. As well, the NFL has a strong innate parity factor because player longevity is relatively short, between three and four years, by all accounts. What it all boils down to really is any franchise in the league can be turned around (for good or bad) in roughly that time. The whole system promotes balance and equal opportunity, if you will.

To be the bottom of a division three out of four years, especially a division struggling across the board, should be less than rare. Nobody is this unlucky. If you believe Shanahan or any NFL coach who loses this consistently is unlucky, you're the type of person who burnt "witches" at the stake a few hundred years ago. You have to be epically incompetent to lose so consistently in this league. And given Mike's near total control of the franchise, I would argue he's high in the running for the most incompetent HC in decades at this point.

But back to the parity discussion, it's why I can always feel optimistic about the Skins future. Hit on the right coach/GM, and you can be top of the league in just a couple years. If there's "luck" in the NFL, it's picking the next HC/GM poised to dominate the chess board.

Here's to the 2014 off-season and "lucky" choices