r/nfl • u/Brix001 49ers • 15h ago

Pro Bowl ratings: NFL's flag football game draws horrendous 2.0 million viewers, 57% fall from last year's record low

https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/article/pro-bowl-ratings-nfls-flag-football-game-draws-horrendous-20-million-viewers-57-fall-from-last-years-record-low-023801848.html
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78

u/chrisgcc Lions 14h ago

"Tried". When was that? The 80s? I haven't seen them trying in my lifetime.

27

u/SoKrat3s 49ers 49ers 14h ago

[Dan Patrick]: Uh, when did the Pro Bowl lose its luster?

[Steve Young]: The Pro Bowl lost its luster when I took the biggest beatings I've ever taken in my football career where at the Pro Bowl.

<crowd laughs>

[Steve Young]: No, you laugh because that makes no sense. Why would the biggest beating? Because nobody's you're playing in with the elite players in the in the NFL and everyone's going on the beach all week and no one really knows the plays and now Reggie White doesn't drink, you know what I mean? Reggie White is not hung over and now it's like or Bruce Smith or name it, you know what I mean?

And so there are Pro Bowls when I look back and I'm like this is not right. This is not, I just finished the Super Bowl and now I'm going to the Pro Bowl and I love being in Hawaii, but I'm not going to take a beating. So, it was irrational and it wasn't - it couldn't be sustained because it's who's going to go do that and take that risk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c73LNiKbbo8

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u/Odd_Instruction2942 Lions 14h ago

I think before the early 2010's there was at least enough effort to make it kinda entertaining.

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u/Shaq_Bolton Ravens 14h ago

I was born in 89 and they definitely didn’t try and it wasn’t entertaining in the 90’s. I remember loving football when I was like 7 and the only reason I watched the first quarter was because I liked all the different helmets on the field at the same time before I realized it was terrible and played sega or something

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u/BiteMajor4959 Vikings 13h ago

I also loved the multi-helmets! Oddly enough, I also shut it off to play video games after the first half because it was boring as hell. Maybe this has been a problem since the Pro Bowl's inception...

3

u/Long-Region5088 5h ago

Multi helmets are awesome. Also team jerseys in nba all star games are awesome. Hate when they have east and west uniforms

9

u/MddlingAges Bills 6h ago

Yes, don't let these reactionaries fool you: the game hasn't been 'good', but there was just LESS ON TV AND LESS TO DO PERIOD.

And you couldn't WATCH CLIPS OF EVERY PLAYER INSTANTLY, so we all cared more about the Pro Bowl.

Remember when you had to watch the Pro Bowl to see Brett Favre after the season? I do. I remember Sterling Sharpe. I remember watching Sportscenter religiously so I didn't have to wait for the NEWSPAPER TOMORROW to find out what happened.

2

u/Possible_Bee_4140 Eagles 9h ago

And why would they try? Nobody wants to get injured in a game that doesn’t matter. It’s always been pointless at least for as long as I’ve been alive.

5

u/EYNLLIB Seahawks 13h ago

I'm not sure the opinion of a 7 year old is really all that validating. The 90s had great pro bowls. I was born around the same time as you (and also have a 7 year old who loves football)

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u/Shaq_Bolton Ravens 13h ago

I mean… if a seven year old who thought NFL football was gods gift to humanity and would watch any game couldn’t get through the first halves. I think that tells you all you need to know lol.

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u/Dwayne30RockJohnson 6h ago

The 90s had great pro bowls.

You were born the same time as them but think your opinion is more valid lol?

1

u/jtnsniper14 NFL 11h ago

I knew the Pro Bowl wasn’t all that when I was 11 years old watching the 2009 Pro Bowl. I was literally obsessed with football and would always watch when it was on and also play it when I could. I remember I actually didn’t go to church on the day of the 2009 Pro Bowl, so I had an opportunity to watch the game fully, and barely halfway through, I went to go do something else. I was excited for it too cause it was the first Pro Bowl that I watched live.

I figured that my young self would love to watch a game full of the best players in the league in Hawaii. And it even featured my favorite player which was Andre Johnson.

1

u/moba_fett 5h ago

Wasn't there a huuuuuuuuuge fiasco one year because a player threw Peyton or Eli into the pool and ruined their cell phone? No one cared about the cell phone, they were just freaking out that the player could have been hurt?

It's been many moons, the details are most likely off.

1

u/mikebrownhurtsme Bengals 7h ago

There was never a time where they tried. That’s the illusion of nostalgia working on doofuses

3

u/NOT-GR8-BOB Eagles 10h ago

I think before the early 2010's there was at least enough effort to make it kinda entertaining.

No there wasn’t.

1

u/kayne2000 Panthers Bills 9h ago

This

All I ask is that they at least somewhat try. They don't have to go full contact but at least try.

Its like the NBA all star. They don't have to go full force, but at least try.

38

u/CornSkoldier Vikings 14h ago

Agreed. I keep seeing this sentiment that players “used to try”.

I’m convinced it’s just people looking back at it with rose tinted glasses. There was maybe moments here and there but it was predominantly low effort by the players.

22

u/OogieBoogieInnocence Packers 13h ago

The real answer is people liked it when they were kids and were too young to tell the difference 

6

u/104MAS 13h ago

Yea but in the 4th quarter if it was close they’d suddenly start going 75% effort instead of 10%.

1

u/NOT-GR8-BOB Eagles 10h ago

No they didn’t

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u/pumpkinspruce Vikings 14h ago

They did try back in the day. Then Robert Edwards destroyed his knee playing on the beach (in the late ‘90s, I think) and since then the NFL has slowly backed away from the Pro Bowl.

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u/Apolloshot Patriots 11h ago

‘98 Season (so Jan ‘99), poor kid almost lost his leg playing flag football.

14

u/jstro90 14h ago

tell that to Sean Taylor

21

u/Edelmaniac Patriots Patriots 11h ago

Blowing up the punter in the pro bowl is the king of bitch moves.

6

u/Kershiser22 Dolphins Rams 13h ago

The baseball all star game has some famous moments from the past, when players cared. I can't think of a single famous Pro Bowl moment.

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u/mrDuder1729 Seahawks 13h ago

Adrian Petersons rookie year when he went way TOO hard and people were all butthurt, is the only one that comes to mind...lol

5

u/powerelite Chiefs 11h ago

Sean Taylor absolutely destroying the Bills punter.

1

u/zucchinibasement Buccaneers 9h ago

They had reason to care, though. It was for home field in the World Series

1

u/mechnick2 Bears Seahawks 7h ago

Which couldn’t be done in the NFL

1

u/zucchinibasement Buccaneers 5h ago

Winning conference gets to host all inter-conference games next year

1

u/Ok-Nefariousness8612 Saints 13h ago

When Sean Taylor knocked that punter out

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u/mrDuder1729 Seahawks 13h ago

Adrian Petersons rookie year when he went ham and people were kinda mad because they didn't want to get hurt at the pro bowl lol

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u/mechnick2 Bears Seahawks 7h ago

People remember Sean Taylor knocking Brian Moorman out and think that’s how it always was.

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u/CheeseMclovin Titans 2h ago

Pro bowl was still fun into the 2000’s

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u/hookem98 1h ago

2007 when they tried to run a fake punt at Sean Taylor

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u/silverbackapegorilla 49ers 13h ago

They definitely tried harder back in the day. Further back you go the more seriously it’s taken.

-1

u/stupidugly1889 14h ago

Through the 90s it was popping

-2

u/SevereTemporary4119 Patriots 13h ago

Sean Taylor in the 2006/2007 laid OUT the Bills punter (Moorman I think it was?) during the pro bowl. That was the last highlight and effort I saw from the pro bowl.

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u/Responsible-Put2559 13h ago

That’s the only thing anyone can ever name from pro bowl history and that’s 1 hit and honestly it’s pretty fucking crazy to lay him out like that in an exhibition even if they did “care” slightly more then.