Steelers fans should rejoice about NFL Pro Bowl being replaced

The NFL recently decided to replace their Pro Bowl game with a skills challenge and flag football game. Here’s why Steelers fans should be thrilled.

A tradition that started all the way back in 1951 is no more. On Monday Morning The Associated Press via ESPN announced that the NFL has decided to abolish the Pro Bowl. In its place, the league has decided to have a series of skills challenges and a flag football game that will take place on February 5th this year.

This was a long time coming. I think I can speak not only for Pittsburgh Steelers fans, but for fans around the league when I say good riddance to the annual NFL Pro Bowl game.

There was a time when I would actually get excited about this game. During that gap between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl, I couldn’t wait to see some of the best players on the Steelers take the stage with the NFL greats one last time before a brutally long offseason. While the games never held much meaning, played used to try harder, and every now and then, we would witness some big collisions (Sean Taylor comes to mind).

However, it’s been ages since we’ve seen any entertaining Pro Bowl action. The players are now so protected by the NFLPA that they prefer no contact whatsoever in these games. In recent years, the official would blow the whistle before a player’s progress even stops, and they rarely go to the ground. Quite frankly, it’s become a joke.

Steelers fans can be thankful for new approach to the Pro Bowl

While I occasionally enjoy the nostalgia of the Pro Bowl, I can’t say that I’ve sat down to watch more than a few minutes of this meaningless game over the past several years. When I have tuned in, it didn’t take long to change the channel, as it has just become so hard to stomach.

The new approach should have Steelers fans satisfied. In an effort to still honor some of the best players around the league each year, the NFL isn’t getting rid of the Pro Bowl altogether. These accolades go way back, and I’m sure the players are thankful for this. Instead, a series of challenges and a flag football game should be more entertaining.

The Associated Press did not expand on what we might see during the skills challenges, but if it’s anything like the old days in the 90s, we might see QB throwing contests where passers test both their power and accuracy. I wouldn’t be surprised if we also saw some interesting foot races and perhaps even ways for the big guys in the trenches to test their strength.

The flag football game itself shouldn’t differ too much from the Pro Bowl game we’ve been accustomed to seeing over the past several years, but this change of scenery should offer some entertainment. I’d love to see players like Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen in this setting.

For a team like the Pittsburgh Steelers who rely so heavily on star players like T.J. Watt, Cameron Heyward, and Minkah Fitzpatrick, it’s nice to know that there is extremely little chance of anyone suffering an injury with the new Pro Bowl setup.

This new event is going to be called “The Pro Bowl Games” and it will take place over several days. We will see if stretching this out proves to lose the attention of viewers, but it couldn’t be any worse than it already was.