Tuesday Commentary: The Good, The Great & The Ugly

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It’s Tuesday and time for the Good, the Great & the Ugly! The NFL had em all this week …

First the good: A pretty epic Week 1 came to a close Monday night with the biggest comeback of the week. Minnesota rookie J.J. McCarthy – in his first NFL start, in his hometown of Chicago – led a 21-point fourth quarter comeback as the Vikings stunned the Bears 27-24. It was shades of the Sunday Nighter where the Bills came back in the fourth quarter to shock the Baltimore Ravens 41-40 twenty-four hours prior.

The NFL is stealing the CFL’s old great slogan of, “No Lead Is Safe.”

Next the great: It’s the play, and even moreso the story, of young Vikings QB McCarthy. While leading Michigan to the 2023 National Championship under Jim Harbaugh, McCarthy was open about his Mental Health (Depression) struggles he’d had going back to high school. He was also open on how he dealt with them, and emerged victorious with the Wolverines, going down in history.

But like anybody who dares broach the subject of Mental Health publicly, that opened J.J. up to ridicule and stigma. And then there were alllllll the naysayers – some of whom are great friends of mine – who said McCarthy couldn’t get it done at the big league level.

And then Monday night happened.

As John Frenzy would say, “He’s a winner all the way!”

And finally the ugly: First I thought I’d choose the Miami Dolphins, who got humiliated 33-8 in Week 1 at Indy and fans and media here are already placing bets on who the next coach will be. Bill Belichick? Jon Gruden? Ryan Day? That’s the topic here in South Florida.

But no, speaking of Belichick, it’s ugly that he made the news on Monday for banning New England Patriots scouts from the UNC football facilities, where he’s now coaching the Tar Heels in college football.

When asked about it, Belichick said it’s clear he’s not welcome at Gilette Stadium in New England so it’s tit for tat.

Isn’t it sad how some people can’t leave the games on the playground?

That’s today’s Rod Pedersen Commentary

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