After watching the NFL draft over the weekend, I decided to grade each franchise and it’s performance over the past decade and to reasonable 
predict it’s future success.
A+ New England Patriots – Class of the league. 3 Super Bowls this decade. Solid owner, Hall of Fame coach and great product every year. Pittsburgh Steelers – 2 Super Bowls this decade. Strong ownership, coaching and players. Never overspends and never compromises values. Iianapolis Colts – Bill Polian runs a first class operation. Good ownership support and a Hall of Fame Quarterback, the Colts will always compete. Philadelphia Eagles – 5 NFC Championship games in 8 years. 4th best winning pct. In the NFL since 2000. Results are on the field. Always in the top ranked teams for salary cap management.
A New York Giant – Won Super Bowl 2 seasons ago and finished regular season in 2008 with 12-4. Only received an A grade because prior to Super Bowl win, organization floundered 6 previous years.
A- Miami Dolphins – Anything with Bill Parcell’s stamp on it is heading in the right direction. San Diego Chargers – I’m not a Norv Turner fan and thought Marty Schottenheimer got a raw deal but the changes in coaching has yielded no real drop off in on the field performance.
B+ Denver Broncos – Recent success has eluded this franchise but Pat Bowlen has 2 Lombardi trophies. Bowlen made the move to oust Shanahan. We’ll see how the Josh McDaniel era goes. Minnesota Vikings – Team is on the rise with Brad Childress at the helm. Long gone are the days of the Booze Cruise and Love Boat from Dante Culpepper years past.
B Tennessee Titans –Jeff Fisher is a good coach but Vince Young experiment is not panning out as planned.
B- Chicago Bears – Bears are unable and unwilling to develop the quarterback position as they failed with Rex Grossman. Culter will not flourish as Lovie Smith is a defensive minded coach and not Mike Shanahan. Jacksonville Jaguars – Up, Down, Up, Down. Del Rio is a solid coach but the Matt Jones issue is sending up red flags. Atlanta Falcons – Last year was great and brought their score from D- to B-. Michael Vick still lingers. Can easily move to an A grade or back to C depending on the 2009 season. Tampa Bay Bucs – It was time for Gruden to move on but so did the heart and soul of the team in Warrick Dunn and Derrick Brooks. It’s been a while since their 2002 Super Bowl Win. New Orleans Saints – Sean Payton is a good, young offensive mind but offensive doesn’t win championships. N.O. has not gotten the recipe right since their 2006 trip to the NFC Championship game. San Francisco 49ers – Anyone who hires Mike Singletary is heading in the right direction. How about a friendly jog on Pain Hill? Baltimore Ravens – Jim Harbaugh is the right guy for the job and Ray Lewis is a player for the ages.
C+ Green Bay Packers – Not sure if Mike McCarthy is the right guy. Year 1 under Aaron Rogers yielded -7 games in the win column. Carolina Panthers – Problems, problems, problems. Just overpaid for Delhomme, Julius Peppers wants out of town and sacked their D-Coordinator. Their 12-4 record keeps them out of the D’s. Houston Texans – Young franchise that made some BIG mistakes in the beginning. Kubiak has their heads above water and looking up. Arizona Cardinals – Bill Bidwell and 1 playoff win in 50+ years prior to 2008 Super Bowl run. Given a C+ grade because they hired Wisenhunt and Grimm to turn organization around.
C Dallas Cowboys – Jerry Jones is a younger version of Al Davis. Recent success is only attributed to Bill Parcels personnel moves. Jerry Jones is NOT NFL G.M. J.J. has not had an experiment go well since he fired Jimmy Johnson and this past weekend’s draft was another, in a long list of ndications of a poor organization. Washington Redskins – Daniel Snyder is a petulant child. Coaching turmoil is ruining a very young and talented quarterback in Jason Campbell. Turmoil at it best. New York Jets – J-E-T-S, JETS, JETS, JETS. We’ll see if new coach Ryan and QB Sanchez can get this team over the hump. Brett Favre was only a 1 year experiment. It’s is now time to play football and not patty cakes. Buffalo Bills – Not much to sneeze at since their last Super Bowl appearance 15 years ago but have a good core of young players.
D+ Kansas City Chiefs – Herm Edwards is a good coach but was a disaster in KC. Not very good results since owner Lamar Hunt died.
D Seattle Seahawks – I’m not a Jim Mora fan based on his Atlanta experience. He’ll never live up to Mike Holmgren. This team will continue to decline under Mora’s leadership (or lack thereof).
D- St. Louis Rams – Team has had 1 winning season since their Spygate Super Bowl loss to the upstart Patriots. Spags should get them on the right road in 3 years or so. Cincinnati Bengals – Terrible ownership. Marvin Lewis is the ONLY reason I didn’t give them an F. Cleveland Browns – Terrible ownership. No redeeming qualities from such a depressing town. Can they draft LeBron James to play all positions?
F Detroit Lions – Just like the Big 3 automakers…..DONE. Oakland Raiders – Once a proud franchise based on a “Commitment to Excellence” now, just a joke drowning in an abyss of delusion.
In professional sports, the margin between winning and losing is razor thin. Often, it is the team that plays to win versus not to lose, that ends up on top. And it is this characteristic that makes the Superbowl win of the New Orleans Saints so impressive. 
For those of you who looked at the 13 and 0 Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints and 11 and 1 Minnesota Vikings and claimed NFL parody was dead, not so fast my friends! The NFL playoff picture is a wild ride as we go into Week 17 with only one seed set in the NFC race and with multiple 8 win teams battling for the two AFC wild card slots. In addition, three games this week, the Eagles-Cowboys, Cardinals-Packers and Jets-Bengals could be preludes to first round playoff match-ups.
