Complain, Complain, Complain

A friend of mine (a Bears fan) started complaining to me that the Seahawks shouldn’t be playing the Bears this Sunday because they shouldn’t have had a home game in the Wild Card round. Yadda, yadda, yadda. Blah, blah, blah. I just rolled my eyes and let it slide.

Who was the only home team to win last weekend? The Seattle Seahawks.

Who was the only division champion to win last weekend? The Seattle Seahawks.

The New Orleans Saints (11-5) had a better record than the Seahawks (7-9). That’s a fact. However, EVERY ROAD TEAM last weekend had a better record than the home team. How come no one made a fuss about that?!

Baltimore (12-4) had a better record than Kansas City (10-6). The New York Jets (11-5) had a better record than Indianapolis (10-6). Green Bay and Philadelphia had the same record (10-6), but if Philadelphia hadn’t won the NFC East, Green Bay would have won a tiebreaker since they had beaten the Eagles in Week 1. Yet I don’t recall hearing any complaints in the media that the Ravens, Jets and Packers weren’t playing at home.

Last week, if the Saints had been given the choice of playing at ANY of the four division champions’ stadiums, they would have chosen Qwest Field. They got the Seahawks, and they were beaten. They didn’t lose the game by committing several turnovers or key penalties or were victimized by any bad calls. The Seahawks outplayed them. Period.

Did the Seahawks enjoy a home field advantage? Absolutely. So did the Chiefs, Colts and Eagles, and they all lost.

I’m tired of hearing that the Seahawks don’t deserve this or don’t deserve that. The Seahawks have won the games they needed to win to get to this position. The Saints (and the Giants and Buccaneers, for that matter) didn’t.

End of story.