×

Super Bowl turns into super bore for most Sunday

There were times Sunday when I thought I was watching a rerun of the last World Cup of Soccer.

That’s how lacking in real suspense the Super Bowl between New England and the L.A. Rams was.

Now, the World Cup 2016 championship game managed to put me to sleep not once, but twice. That was a personal record.

It wasn’t that the Patriots and Rams were all that bad — their defenses were very good.

So much that the Rams punted on their first eight chances on offense. They could have at least had their punter Johnny Hekker, try a fake punt play. He’s been successful a few times with that ploy.

New England coach Bill Belichick even gave credit to the Detroit Lions in his postgame comments.

“Detroit took away the L.A. run game in the game they played late in the season. That gave us the idea to do the same and force them into a lot of third and long plays,” Belichick said.

The Lions, for some inexplicable reason, managed to beat the Patriots earlier in the season in a game that seemed more like a gift to former assistant Matt Patricia.

The truth of it is that the Patriots are a team on the wane.

Tom Brady is already a slam-dunk entry into the NFL Hall of Fame. His performances against Kansas City and the Rams solidified that, if any further proof was required for.

But he’ll turn 41 before next season arrives and showed clear signs of advancing age this season. No one can continue to play at that level of excellence.

He would be wise to take all those Super Bowl rings and retire to some tropic island with his trophy wife, who incidentally, makes more money than her husband in her modeling career.

Belichick also has no reason to continue coaching. He’s surpassed all the records set before him and belongs in the same immortal company as Vince Lombardi, Bill Walsh, etc.

There are younger teams and quarterbacks waiting to step in to replace the Patriots. The Chiefs are one prime example as well as the Rams, who will learn how to deal with the craziness and hype surrounding this spectacle.

Dynasties, like the Patriots, the Bulls of the 1990s and the UCLA basketball teams of the 1960s, eventually run their course.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today