NFL Pro Bowl: Johnson, Hali Set To Represent The KC Chiefs

Tonight Kansas City Chiefs linebackers Tamba Hali and Derrick Johnson will represent their team in the annual NFL Pro Bowl.

The Pro Bowl is a nice honor for the players but as an actual football game/all-star game, it sucks. This is a shame and very unlike the NFL. The league does such a great job of hyping up and promoting their various events and in most cases, those events deliver. If they didn’t, professional football wouldn’t be the most popular sport in America.

Yet the Pro Bowl is a joke among NFL fans. To avoid injuries, defense is pretty much outlawed. There is no press coverage and no blitzing. The defenders don’t really want to nail the QBs, so don’t expect a lot of sacks. Should Tamba Hali get anywhere near the QB, we’re likely to hear whistles blowing the play dead from every angle.

I’ve never understood why the NFL doesn’t alter the contest to make it more enjoyable for the players and fans. Why not mic up all the players so the fans can listen in and get to know what it is like in an NFL huddle? Why not treat it like a back yard football game of two hand touch? The players would have an incredibly decreased risk of injury and would likely have a lot more fun with the game. The coaches could dial up trick plays, lineman could play QB, anything could happen.

As the game stands now, we likely won’t have a very good time watching Tamba and DJ because they won’t really be able to do what they do best; play full tilt defense.

Still, as boring as the Pro Bowl can be, I’ll be watching tonight to support DJ and Tamba. It’s the last time we’ll get to see Chiefs football until August and even if it is a little boring, it sure beats the alternative.

We’ll have an open thread so be sure to stop by. We can talk about the draft and turn the Pro Bowl into a drinking game or something.