Pro Bowl no more: League to replace game with flag and skills
By Brian Miller
The Pro Bowl as we know it is dead. We knew it was coming but now it is official, the game as it was will be gone and in its place, something different.
It was possible that the NFL could have just done away with the whole thing. For years the game has been nothing more than a watered-down afterthought to the season or a gap filler in between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl.
It became so diluted that fans stopped tuning in and instead just tuned it out. The NFL tried many ideations for the game but none of them stuck. Now, they have another idea before they close the lid on the entire thing, should this not work.
Welcome to the new Pro Bowl. A week-long festival that will feature skills competitions and end with a flag football game. The skills competitions should be interesting to watch and if they bring back some of those from the late 80s and early 90s like the bullseye targets for QBs, it could be an interesting end to the season. The flag football game? Well, that might have some entertaining moments.
It will be interesting to see if the events are moved around the league each year like the NFL Draft is now or if it will find a permanent home. Hawaii always said Pro Bowl to me so I would love for it to go back there but we will see how it works out.
The NFL could have just left it all alone but there is still money to be milked from the cash cow and now maybe they hit on it. At least players like Mac Jones will still have a shot to be named as an alternate when everyone from the Super Bowl teams all drop out.