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NFL Season Review

After watching the Green Bay Packers win Super Bowl XLV and take the Lombardi Trophy home for the first time in 14 years, it’s hard not to sit back and gloat. But as Green Bay fans know, the Packers aren’t the type to brag.

Football’s oldest franchise won its 13th title this year not by trash-talking or spending money on big-name free agents, but by building a deep team from the ground up, admitting its mistakes, accepting its losses, and forging ahead with what it had.

As the oft-told story goes, the Packers’ season was one of overcoming adversity.

But as cliché as that storyline has become, it defines the NFL in many ways. I can’t say that many of my predictions for the 2010 NFL season worked out very well.

My picks of the Cowboys, 49ers and Dolphins to win their divisions failed pretty miserably. My bold prediction that the Carolina Panthers “should have a chance at a wild-card berth”…well, let’s not talk about that one. My projections that the Bears, Falcons, Steelers, Patriots and Chiefs would miss the playoffs now look shortsighted. And that grand prophecy that the Cincinnatti Bengals – the Bengals – would defeat the Dallas Cowboys in the Super Bowl…I guess you can about write me off as an NFL expert at this point.

But looking back, I really could care less that my predictions didn’t come true. Beyond the fact that my favorite team just won the Super Bowl, the 2010 NFL season was a great one.

This season, Jerry Jones and Zygi Wilf could only laugh as their freely spent money failed to translate to success on the field for the Cowboys and Vikings – or, in Minnesota’s case, even a roof to play under. Meanwhile, young and well-coached teams like the Packers, Patriots and Buccaneers achieved success, in part by reinventing themselves mid-season.

The 2010 season saw the greatest quarterback football has ever seen finally limp off the field when Brett Favre went down in December. It saw another quarterback, Michael Vick, have his best year yet after overcoming off-field mistakes and 21 months in prison.

But what all these storylines add up to is something very simple: parity, something the NBA and MLB both lack. In the NFL, more than a few teams win championships, and beyond that, the right teams win. One player’s “Decision” can’t change the makeup of an entire league.

In this league, teams can’t simply buy a championship. In this league, coaching and depth matter far more than fancy new stadiums, Pro Bowl selections or which celebrity your quarterback is dating this week. In this league, chemistry and culture ultimately triumph over ego and vanity.

In this league, a team owned by its fans can be the greatest in its sport.

But what the NFL must realize is that it, too, is mortal. If the league and its players association can appreciate what it is that makes them famous, why they make millions to play a sport so many love, perhaps 2011 can be as great as 2010. Perhaps Lombardi can return home for another year, to a team and a town that epitomize what sports should be about.